Synchrony and Tail-Dependent Synchrony Have Different Effects on Stability of Terrestrial and Freshwater Communities

IF 6.3 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Global Ecology and Biogeography Pub Date : 2025-03-24 DOI:10.1111/geb.70013

Shyamolina Ghosh, Blake Matthews, Sarah R. Supp, Roel van Klink, Francesco Pomati, James A. Rusak, Imran Khaliq, Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Ole Seehausen, Christian Rixen, Martin M. Gossner, Anita Narwani, Jonathan M. Chase, Catherine H. Graham

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim

Global change can impact the stability of biological communities by affecting species richness and synchrony. While most studies focus on terrestrial ecosystems, our research includes both terrestrial and aquatic realms. Previous works measure overall community synchrony as co-variation among co-occurring species, ignoring the tail dependence—when species fluctuate together at extreme abundance levels. We used community time-series data to test two hypotheses across realms: a positive relationship between diversity (richness) and stability, and a negative relationship between synchrony and stability. Additionally, we explored how tail-dependent synchrony contributes to variations in community stability.

Location

Global.

Time Period

1923–2020.

Major Taxa Studied

7 taxa across freshwater (fish, plants, invertebrates) and terrestrial (birds, plants, invertebrates, mammals) realms.

Methods

We synthesised 20+ years of species abundance/biomass data from 2668 communities across seven taxonomic groups. Using a variance-ratio approach and copula models, we measured overall and tail-dependent synchrony. Hierarchical linear mixed-effects models in a Bayesian framework were used to assess the effects of richness and both synchrony types on stability.

Results

We found a positive diversity–stability relationship in terrestrial but not in freshwater communities, with terrestrial stability being nearly three times higher. A negative synchrony –stability relationship was found in both realms. The best model explaining stability included realm differences, richness and both types of synchronies. For freshwater, only overall synchrony significantly impacted stability, while richness and both synchrony types were key predictors for terrestrial stability. Notably, the model overestimates terrestrial stability when tail-dependent synchrony is excluded.

Main Conclusions

Richness strongly enhanced terrestrial stability, offering the most extensive support for this relationship to date. In addition, tail-dependent synchrony provides key insights into stability differences across ecosystems. As extreme environmental events increase, incorporating tail-dependent synchrony in future stability studies is crucial.

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同步性和尾部依赖性对陆地和淡水群落稳定性的影响不同

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来源期刊

Global Ecology and Biogeography 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

3.10%

发文量

170

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Global Ecology and Biogeography (GEB) welcomes papers that investigate broad-scale (in space, time and/or taxonomy), general patterns in the organization of ecological systems and assemblages, and the processes that underlie them. In particular, GEB welcomes studies that use macroecological methods, comparative analyses, meta-analyses, reviews, spatial analyses and modelling to arrive at general, conceptual conclusions. Studies in GEB need not be global in spatial extent, but the conclusions and implications of the study must be relevant to ecologists and biogeographers globally, rather than being limited to local areas, or specific taxa. Similarly, GEB is not limited to spatial studies; we are equally interested in the general patterns of nature through time, among taxa (e.g., body sizes, dispersal abilities), through the course of evolution, etc. Further, GEB welcomes papers that investigate general impacts of human activities on ecological systems in accordance with the above criteria.