Urbanization and agricultural intensification destabilize animal communities differently than diversity loss

Théophile Olivier (), Elisa Thébault, Marianne Elias, Benoit Fontaine and Colin Fontaine
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Théophile Olivier: Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris
Elisa Thébault: Sorbonne Université, CNRS, IRD, INRAE, Université Paris Est Créteil, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris (iEES-Paris)
Marianne Elias: Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université-EPHE-Université des Antilles, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris
Benoit Fontaine: Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris
Colin Fontaine: Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Despite growing concern over consequences of global changes, we still know little about potential interactive effects of anthropogenic perturbations and diversity loss on the stability of local communities, especially for taxa other than plants. Here we analyse the relationships among landscape composition, biodiversity and community stability looking at time series of three types of communities, i.e., bats, birds and butterflies, monitored over the years by citizen science programs in France. We show that urban and intensive agricultural landscapes as well as diversity loss destabilize these communities but in different ways: while diversity loss translates into greater population synchrony, urban and intensive agricultural landscapes mainly decrease mean population stability. In addition to highlight the stabilizing effects of diversity on ecologically important but overlooked taxa, our results further reveal new pathways linking anthropogenic activities to diversity and stability.

Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16240-6

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16240-6

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