IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-35514-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biodiversity stabilizes plant communities through statistical-averaging effects rather than compensatory dynamics

Author

Listed:
  • Lei Zhao

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Shaopeng Wang

    (Peking University)

  • Ruohong Shen

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Ying Gong

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Chong Wang

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Pubin Hong

    (Peking University)

  • Daniel C. Reuman

    (University of Kansas, Higuchi Hall)

Abstract

Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem stability is a central goal of ecologists. Recent studies have concluded that biodiversity increases community temporal stability by increasing the asynchrony between the dynamics of different species. Theoretically, this enhancement can occur through either increased between-species compensatory dynamics, a fundamentally biological mechanism; or through an averaging effect, primarily a statistical mechanism. Yet it remains unclear which mechanism is dominant in explaining the diversity-stability relationship. We address this issue by mathematically decomposing asynchrony into components separately quantifying the compensatory and statistical-averaging effects. We applied the new decomposition approach to plant survey and experimental data from North American grasslands. We show that statistical averaging, rather than compensatory dynamics, was the principal mediator of biodiversity effects on community stability. Our simple decomposition approach helps integrate concepts of stability, asynchrony, statistical averaging, and compensatory dynamics, and suggests that statistical averaging, rather than compensatory dynamics, is the primary means by which biodiversity confers ecological stability.

Suggested Citation

  • Lei Zhao & Shaopeng Wang & Ruohong Shen & Ying Gong & Chong Wang & Pubin Hong & Daniel C. Reuman, 2022. "Biodiversity stabilizes plant communities through statistical-averaging effects rather than compensatory dynamics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-35514-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35514-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35514-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-35514-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yann Hautier & Eric W. Seabloom & Elizabeth T. Borer & Peter B. Adler & W. Stanley Harpole & Helmut Hillebrand & Eric M. Lind & Andrew S. MacDougall & Carly J. Stevens & Jonathan D. Bakker & Yvonne M., 2014. "Eutrophication weakens stabilizing effects of diversity in natural grasslands," Nature, Nature, vol. 508(7497), pages 521-525, April.
    2. Yann Hautier & Pengfei Zhang & Michel Loreau & Kevin R. Wilcox & Eric W. Seabloom & Elizabeth T. Borer & Jarrett E. K. Byrnes & Sally E. Koerner & Kimberly J. Komatsu & Jonathan S. Lefcheck & Andy Hec, 2021. "Author Correction: General destabilizing effects of eutrophication on grassland productivity at multiple spatial scales," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-1, December.
    3. Lukas Egli & Matthias Schröter & Christoph Scherber & Teja Tscharntke & Ralf Seppelt, 2020. "Crop asynchrony stabilizes food production," Nature, Nature, vol. 588(7837), pages 7-12, December.
    4. David Tilman & Peter B. Reich & Johannes M. H. Knops, 2006. "Biodiversity and ecosystem stability in a decade-long grassland experiment," Nature, Nature, vol. 441(7093), pages 629-632, June.
    5. Delphine Renard & David Tilman, 2019. "National food production stabilized by crop diversity," Nature, Nature, vol. 571(7764), pages 257-260, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Donohue, Ian & Coscieme, Luca & Gellner, Gabriel & Yang, Qiang & Jackson, Andrew L. & Kubiszewski, Ida & Costanza, Robert & McCann, Kevin S., 2023. "Accelerated economic recovery in countries powered by renewables," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    2. Matthew C. LaFevor, 2022. "Crop Species Production Diversity Enhances Revenue Stability in Low-Income Farm Regions of Mexico," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Pedro Daleo & Juan Alberti & Enrique J. Chaneton & Oscar Iribarne & Pedro M. Tognetti & Jonathan D. Bakker & Elizabeth T. Borer & Martín Bruschetti & Andrew S. MacDougall & Jesús Pascual & Mahesh Sank, 2023. "Environmental heterogeneity modulates the effect of plant diversity on the spatial variability of grassland biomass," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Yuzhu Zou & Zhenshan Liu & Yan Chen & Yin Wang & Shijing Feng, 2024. "Crop Rotation and Diversification in China: Enhancing Sustainable Agriculture and Resilience," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Qiu, Bingwen & Jian, Zeyu & Yang, Peng & Tang, Zhenghong & Zhu, Xiaolin & Duan, Mingjie & Yu, Qiangyi & Chen, Xuehong & Zhang, Miao & Tu, Ping & Xu, Weiming & Zhao, Zhiyuan, 2024. "Unveiling grain production patterns in China (2005–2020) towards targeted sustainable intensification," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    6. Nilsson, Pia & Bommarco, Riccardo & Hansson, Helena & Kuns, Brian & Schaak, Henning, 2022. "Farm performance and input self-sufficiency increases with functional crop diversity on Swedish farms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Qingqing Chen & Shaopeng Wang & Elizabeth T. Borer & Jonathan D. Bakker & Eric W. Seabloom & W. Stanley Harpole & Nico Eisenhauer & Ylva Lekberg & Yvonne M. Buckley & Jane A. Catford & Christiane Rosc, 2023. "Multidimensional responses of grassland stability to eutrophication," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    8. Sharma, Priyanka & Shanoyan, Aleksan & Yao, Becatien H., 2024. "Effects of On-Farm Diversification on Farm Resilience: Evidence from Kansas," 2024 Annual Meeting, July 28-30, New Orleans, LA 344059, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Samuel E. Wuest & Lukas Schulz & Surbhi Rana & Julia Frommelt & Merten Ehmig & Nuno D. Pires & Ueli Grossniklaus & Christian S. Hardtke & Ulrich Z. Hammes & Bernhard Schmid & Pascal A. Niklaus, 2023. "Single-gene resolution of diversity-driven overyielding in plant genotype mixtures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Jie Zhao & Ji Chen & Damien Beillouin & Hans Lambers & Yadong Yang & Pete Smith & Zhaohai Zeng & Jørgen E. Olesen & Huadong Zang, 2022. "Global systematic review with meta-analysis reveals yield advantage of legume-based rotations and its drivers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    11. Lipy Adhikari & Sabarnee Tuladhar & Abid Hussain & Kamal Aryal, 2019. "Are Traditional Food Crops Really ‘Future Smart Foods?’ A Sustainability Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-16, September.
    12. Dong Sheng & Siyuan Jing & Xueqing He & Alexandra-Maria Klein & Heinz-R. Köhler & Thomas C. Wanger, 2024. "Plastic pollution in agricultural landscapes: an overlooked threat to pollination, biocontrol and food security," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Chi, Yuan & Liu, Dahai & Wang, Jing & Wang, Enkang, 2020. "Human negative, positive, and net influences on an estuarine area with intensive human activity based on land covers and ecological indices: An empirical study in Chongming Island, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    14. Brendan Fisher & Stephen Polasky & Thomas Sterner, 2011. "Conservation and Human Welfare: Economic Analysis of Ecosystem Services," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(2), pages 151-159, February.
    15. Matteo Zampieri & Andrea Toreti & Andrej Ceglar & Pierluca De Palma & Thomas Chatzopoulos, 2020. "Analysing the resilience of the European commodity production system with PyResPro, the Python Production Resilience package," Papers 2006.08976, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2020.
    16. Revoyron, Eva & Le Bail, Marianne & Meynard, Jean-Marc & Gunnarsson, Anita & Seghetti, Marco & Colombo, Luca, 2022. "Diversity and drivers of crop diversification pathways of European farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    17. Cyrine Rezgui & Wassila Riah-Anglet & Marie Benoit & Pierre Yves Bernard & Karine Laval & Isabelle Trinsoutrot-Gattin, 2020. "Impacts of the Winter Pea Crop (Instead of Rapeseed) on Soil Microbial Communities, Nitrogen Balance and Wheat Yield," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, November.
    18. Yu, Zhenning & She, Shuoqi & Xia, Chuyu & Luo, Jiaojiao, 2023. "How to solve the dilemma of China’s land fallow policy: Application of voluntary bidding mode in the Yangtze River Delta of China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    19. Katrin Martens & Sebastian Rogga & Jana Zscheischler & Bernd Pölling & Andreas Obersteg & Annette Piorr, 2022. "Classifying New Hybrid Cooperation Models for Short Food-Supply Chains—Providing a Concept for Assessing Sustainability Transformation in the Urban-Rural Nexus," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-24, April.
    20. Marie-Benoît Magrini & Tristan Salord & Guillaume Cabanac, 2023. "The unbalanced development among legume species regarding sustainable and healthy agrifood systems in North-America and Europe: focus on food product innovations," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(1), pages 187-200, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-35514-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.