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Individual species provide multifaceted contributions to the stability of ecosystems

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, pages 1594–1601 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Exploration of the relationship between species diversity and ecological stability has occupied a prominent place in ecological research for decades. Yet, a key component of this puzzle—the contributions of individual species to the overall stability of ecosystems—remains largely unknown. Here, we show that individual species simultaneously stabilize and destabilize ecosystems along different dimensions of stability, and also that their contributions to functional (biomass) and compositional stability are largely independent. By simulating experimentally the extinction of three consumer species (the limpet Patella, the periwinkle Littorina and the topshell Gibbula) from a coastal rocky shore, we found that the capacity to predict the combined contribution of species to stability from the sum of their individual contributions varied among stability dimensions. This implies that the nature of the diversity–stability relationship depends upon the dimension of stability under consideration, and may be additive, synergistic or antagonistic. We conclude that, although the profoundly multifaceted and context-dependent consequences of species loss pose a significant challenge, the predictability of cumulative species contributions to some dimensions of stability provide a way forward for ecologists trying to conserve ecosystems and manage their stability under global change.

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Fig. 1: Quantification of species contributions to multiple dimensions of ecological stability.
Fig. 2: Relative responses of macroalgal communities to our experimental pulse perturbation over time.
Fig. 3: Species contributions to multiple components of ecological stability.
Fig. 4: Comparison of observed combined contributions of multiple grazer species to stability to those predicted from the additive combination of individual taxa.

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Data availability

The data supporting the findings of this study are available in the Zonodo digital repository69.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Lydia White, Nessa E. O’Connor & Mark C. Emmerson

  2. CNRS, UMR 7144, Station Biologique, Roscoff, France

    Lydia White

  3. Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Nessa E. O’Connor & Ian Donohue

  4. Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany

    Qiang Yang

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Contributions

L.W., N.E.O’C. and I.D. designed the research. L.W. performed the experiment and analysed the data. L.W. and I.D. led the writing, with contributions from N.E.O’C., Q.Y. and M.C.E.

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Correspondence to Ian Donohue.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Functional and compositional stability responses of macroalgal assemblages in our different grazer loss treatments.

Box and whisker plots (n = 4, for all measures except spatial variability, for which, n = 11) of (a, b) spatial and (c, d) temporal variability of macroalgal communities in unperturbed plots and (e, f) resistance, (g, h) reactivity, (i, j) resilience and (k, l) recovery time of macroalgal communities in response to our experimentally-imposed pulse perturbation. The centre line indicates the median, the bottom and top hinges of the box and whiskers plot correspond to the 25th and 75th percentiles, and the bottom and top whiskers extend from the hinge to the lowest and highest value, respectively (maximum 1.5× interquartile range from the hinge). Outlying points are plotted individually. Functional stability responses (a, c, e, g, i, k) were based on total macroalgal cover, whereas compositional stability responses (b, d, f, h, j, l) were based on macroalgal community composition. Stability increases from the bottom to the top of the y-axis in every case. A strong destabilising effect of the pulse perturbation in plots from which a species was removed compared to those in which it was present implies that the species contributes strongly to that component of ecological stability. Letters indicate treatments that are statistically indistinguishable from each other based on SNK tests (P > 0.05).

Extended Data Fig. 2 Relationships between functional and compositional stability properties of macroalgal assemblages.

Analyses were pooled across grazer loss treatments (n = 20), with each point representing a single replicate plot. Significant (P < 0.05) relationships are indicated by the presence of a reduced major axis regression line, with associated 95% confidence intervals.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Responses of macroalgal communities to our experimental pulse perturbation over time in uncaged plots and caged plots from which no species were removed.

Mean (± s.e.m., n = 4) log response ratios (LRRs), overlain with raw data points, of the (a) functional (total cover) and (b) compositional responses of macroalgal assemblages to our experimental pulse perturbation (that is, LRRs of perturbed compared to equivalent unperturbed plots within caged and uncaged treatments) in plots from caged plots with no grazer removals (black line) and open uncaged control plots (grey line) over the duration of the experiment. Thick lines indicate significant (P < 0.05) effects of the perturbation, based on two-sample t-tests and PERMANOVAs for, respectively, functional and compositional responses.

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White, L., O’Connor, N.E., Yang, Q. et al. Individual species provide multifaceted contributions to the stability of ecosystems. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 1594–1601 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01315-w

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