Forest Ecology, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich, CH-8092, Switzerland; CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, Bioflux Team, 1919, route de Mende, F-34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
Ecol Lett. 2014 Dec;17(12):1526-35. doi: 10.1111/ele.12357. Epub 2014 Sep 12.
Theory predicts a positive relationship between biodiversity and stability in ecosystem properties, while diversity is expected to have a negative impact on stability at the species level. We used virtual experiments based on a dynamic simulation model to test for the diversity-stability relationship and its underlying mechanisms in Central European forests. First our results show that variability in productivity between stands differing in species composition decreases as species richness and functional diversity increase. Second we show temporal stability increases with increasing diversity due to compensatory dynamics across species, supporting the biodiversity insurance hypothesis. We demonstrate that this pattern is mainly driven by the asynchrony of species responses to small disturbances rather than to environmental fluctuations, and is only weakly affected by the net biodiversity effect on productivity. Furthermore, our results suggest that compensatory dynamics between species may enhance ecosystem stability through an optimisation of canopy occupancy by coexisting species.
理论预测生物多样性与生态系统属性稳定性之间存在正相关关系，而多样性预计会对物种层面的稳定性产生负面影响。我们使用基于动态模拟模型的虚拟实验来检验中欧森林中的多样性-稳定性关系及其潜在机制。首先，我们的结果表明，物种组成不同的林分之间生产力的可变性随着物种丰富度和功能多样性的增加而降低。其次，我们表明，由于物种之间的补偿动态，随着多样性的增加，时间稳定性会增加，这支持了生物多样性保险假说。我们证明，这种模式主要是由物种对小干扰的反应不同而非环境波动驱动的，并且受生物多样性对生产力的净效应影响较小。此外，我们的结果表明，物种之间的补偿动态可能通过优化共存物种的冠层占有率来增强生态系统稳定性。
