TY - JOUR T1 - Asynchrony among local communities stabilises ecosystem function of metacommunities JF - Ecology Letters Y1 - 2017 A1 - K.R. Wilcox A1 - Tredennick, Andrew T. A1 - Koerner, Sally E. A1 - Grman, Emily A1 - Hallett, Lauren M. A1 - M.L. Avolio A1 - Kimberly J. La Pierre A1 - Houseman, Gregory R. A1 - Isbell, Forest A1 - Johnson, David Samuel A1 - Juha M. Alatalo A1 - Baldwin, Andrew H. A1 - Edward W. Bork A1 - Elizabeth H. Boughton A1 - W.D. Bowman A1 - Britton, Andrea J. A1 - Cahill, James F. A1 - Scott. L. Collins A1 - G. Du A1 - Eskelinen, Anu A1 - Gough, Laura A1 - Jentsch, Anke A1 - Kern, Christel A1 - Klanderud, Kari A1 - Alan K. Knapp A1 - Kreyling, Juergen A1 - Luo, Yiqi A1 - McLaren, Jennie R. A1 - Megonigal, Patrick A1 - Onipchenko, Vladimir A1 - Prevéy, Janet A1 - Price, Jodi N. A1 - Robinson, Clare H. A1 - Sala, Osvaldo E. A1 - M.D. Smith A1 - Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A. A1 - Souza, Lara A1 - Tilman, David A1 - White, Shannon R. A1 - Xu, Zhuwen A1 - Yahdjian, Laura A1 - Yu, Qiang A1 - Zhang, Pengfei A1 - Zhang, Yunhai ED - Gurevitch, Jessica KW - Alpha diversity KW - alpha variability KW - beta diversity KW - Biodiversity KW - CoRRE data base KW - patchiness KW - Plant communities KW - Primary productivity KW - species synchrony AB -

Temporal stability of ecosystem functioning increases the predictability and reliability of ecosystem services, and understanding the drivers of stability across spatial scales is important for land management and policy decisions. We used species-level abundance data from 62 plant communities across five continents to assess mechanisms of temporal stability across spatial scales. We assessed how asynchrony (i.e. different units responding dissimilarly through time) of species and local communities stabilised metacommunity ecosystem function. Asynchrony of species increased stability of local communities, and asynchrony among local communities enhanced metacommunity stability by a wide range of magnitudes (1–315%); this range was positively correlated with the size of the metacommunity. Additionally, asynchronous responses among local communities were linked with species’ populations fluctuating asynchronously across space, perhaps stemming from physical and/or competitive differences among local communities. Accordingly, we suggest spatial heterogeneity should be a major focus for maintaining the stability of ecosystem services at larger spatial scales.

UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12861/epdf ER -