TY - JOUR T1 - Spatial heterogeneity in species composition constrains plant community responses to herbivory and fertilisation JF - Ecology Letters Y1 - 2018 A1 - Hodapp, Dorothee A1 - E.T. Borer A1 - Harpole, W. Stanley A1 - Lind, Eric M. A1 - Seabloom, Eric W. A1 - P. Adler A1 - J. Alberti A1 - Arnillas, Carlos A. A1 - J.D. Bakker A1 - L.A. Biederman A1 - Cadotte, Marc A1 - Cleland, Elsa E. A1 - Scott. L. Collins A1 - Fay, Philip A. A1 - Firn, Jennifer A1 - Hagenah, Nicole A1 - Hautier, Yann A1 - Iribarne, Oscar A1 - Knops, Johannes M. H. A1 - McCulley, Rebecca L. A1 - MacDougall, Andrew A1 - Joslin L. Moore A1 - J.W. Morgan A1 - Mortensen, Brent A1 - Kimberly J. La Pierre A1 - Risch, Anita C. A1 - Schütz, Martin A1 - Peri, Pablo A1 - Stevens, Carly J. A1 - Wright, Justin A1 - Hillebrand, Helmut ED - Gurevitch, Jessica AB -

Environmental change can result in substantial shifts in community composition. The associated immigration and extinction events are likely constrained by the spatial distribution of species. Still, studies on environmental change typically quantify biotic responses at single spatial (time series within a single plot) or temporal (spatial beta diversity at single time points) scales, ignoring their potential interdependence. Here, we use data from a global network of grassland experiments to determine how turnover responses to two major forms of environmental change – fertilisation and herbivore loss – are affected by species pool size and spatial compositional heterogeneity. Fertilisation led to higher rates of local extinction, whereas turnover in herbivore exclusion plots was driven by species replacement. Overall, sites with more spatially heterogeneous composition showed significantly higher rates of annual turnover, independent of species pool size and treatment. Taking into account spatial biodiversity aspects will therefore improve our understanding of consequences of global and anthropogenic change on community dynamics.

VL - 21 UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ele.13102 IS - 9 ER - 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 -