Predicting ecosystem stability from community composition and biodiversity

• Published in: Ecology letters Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 617 - 625
• Main Authors: de Mazancourt, Claire, Isbell, Forest, Larocque, Allen, Berendse, Frank, De Luca, Enrica, Grace, James B., Haegeman, Bart, Wayne Polley, H., Roscher, Christiane, Schmid, Bernhard, Tilman, David, van Ruijven, Jasper, Weigelt, Alexandra, Wilsey, Brian J., Loreau, Michel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2013; Blackwell; Wiley
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biodiversity; Biodiversity loss; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; Community composition; Community ecology; competitive communities; Computer Simulation; consequences; demographic stochasticity; diversity; dynamics; Ecology, environment; Ecosystem; Ecosystem biology; Ecosystem stability; Ecosystems; environmental stochasticity; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Germany; Grasslands; Life Sciences; Minnesota; Models, Biological; Models, Theoretical; Monoculture; Netherlands; overyielding; Poaceae; population; Population Dynamics; prediction; productivity; species interactions; Species richness; stability; Stochastic Processes; Synecology; temporal stability; Texas; time-series; variability; Netherlands; Minnesota; Texas; Germany; Community structure; overyielding; Demography; Stability; environmental stochasticity; Ecosystem; demographic stochasticity; prediction; Biodiversity; biodiversity; stability

As biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, an important current scientific challenge is to understand and predict the consequences of biodiversity loss. Here, we develop a theory that predicts the temporal variability of community biomass from the properties of individual component speci...