School of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
Operation Wallacea, Lincolnshire, UK.
J Anim Ecol. 2023 Dec;92(12):2309-2322. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.14010. Epub 2023 Oct 19.
Biodiversity-stability relationships have frequently been studied in ecology, with the recent integration of traits to explain community stability over time. Classical theory underlying the biodiversity-stability relationship posits that different species' responses to the environment should stabilise community-level properties (e.g. biomass or abundance) through compensatory dynamics. However, functional response traits, which aim to predict how species respond to environmental change, are still rarely integrated into studies of ecological stability. Such traits should mechanistically drive community stability, both in terms of community abundance (functional variability) and composition (compositional variability). In turn, whether and how functional or compositional stability scales to affect temporal variation in functional effect traits (a proxy for ecosystem functioning) remains largely unknown, but is key to consistent ecosystem functioning under environmental change. Here, we explore the diversity-stability relationship in bird communities using annual survey data across 98 sites in central Romania, in combination with global trait databases and structural equation models. We show that higher response trait diversity promotes compositional variability directly, and functional variability indirectly via species asynchrony. In turn, functional variability impacts the temporal stability of effect trait diversity. Multiple facets of diversity and community stability differ between natural forests and agricultural or human-dominated survey sites, and the relationship between response diversity and functional variability is mediated by land cover. Further integration of response-and-effect trait frameworks into studies of community stability will enhance understanding of the drivers of biodiversity change, allowing targeted conservation decision-making with a focus on stable ecosystem functioning in the face of global environmental change.
生物多样性-稳定性关系在生态学中经常被研究，最近将特征整合起来解释随着时间的推移社区的稳定性。生物多样性-稳定性关系的基础是经典理论，该理论认为不同物种对环境的反应应该通过补偿动态来稳定群落水平的特性（例如生物量或丰度）。然而，旨在预测物种如何对环境变化做出反应的功能响应特征，仍然很少被整合到生态稳定性研究中。这些特征应该从机制上驱动群落稳定性，无论是在群落丰度（功能变异性）还是组成（组成变异性）方面。反过来，功能或组成稳定性是否以及如何扩展到影响功能效应特征（生态系统功能的代理）的时间变化仍然知之甚少，但对于在环境变化下保持一致的生态系统功能至关重要。在这里，我们使用罗马尼亚中部 98 个地点的年度调查数据，结合全球特征数据库和结构方程模型，探索鸟类群落的多样性-稳定性关系。我们表明，更高的响应特征多样性直接促进了组成变异性，通过物种的非同步性间接促进了功能变异性。反过来，功能变异性又影响了效应特征多样性的时间稳定性。多样性和群落稳定性的多个方面在自然森林和农业或人为主导的调查地点之间存在差异，并且响应多样性与功能变异性之间的关系受到土地覆盖的调节。进一步将响应和效应特征框架整合到群落稳定性研究中，将增强对生物多样性变化驱动因素的理解，从而能够在面对全球环境变化时，以稳定的生态系统功能为重点进行有针对性的保护决策。
