Land use imperils plant and animal community stability through changes in asynchrony rather than diversity

Nico Blüthgen (), Nadja K. Simons, Kirsten Jung, Daniel Prati, Swen C. Renner, Steffen Boch, Markus Fischer, Norbert Hölzel, Valentin H. Klaus, Till Kleinebecker, Marco Tschapka, Wolfgang W. Weisser and Martin M. Gossner
Additional contact information
Nico Blüthgen: Technische Universität Darmstadt
Nadja K. Simons: Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Center for Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München
Kirsten Jung: Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm
Daniel Prati: Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
Swen C. Renner: Institute of Zoology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Steffen Boch: Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
Markus Fischer: Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern
Norbert Hölzel: Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster
Valentin H. Klaus: Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster
Till Kleinebecker: Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster
Marco Tschapka: Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm
Wolfgang W. Weisser: Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Center for Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München
Martin M. Gossner: Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Center for Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan, Technische Universität München

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Human land use may detrimentally affect biodiversity, yet long-term stability of species communities is vital for maintaining ecosystem functioning. Community stability can be achieved by higher species diversity (portfolio effect), higher asynchrony across species (insurance hypothesis) and higher abundance of populations. However, the relative importance of these stabilizing pathways and whether they interact with land use in real-world ecosystems is unknown. We monitored inter-annual fluctuations of 2,671 plant, arthropod, bird and bat species in 300 sites from three regions. Arthropods show 2.0-fold and birds 3.7-fold higher community fluctuations in grasslands than in forests, suggesting a negative impact of forest conversion. Land-use intensity in forests has a negative net impact on stability of bats and in grasslands on birds. Our findings demonstrate that asynchrony across species—much more than species diversity alone—is the main driver of variation in stability across sites and requires more attention in sustainable management.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10697

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