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

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.

%B Ecology Letters %V 21 %P 1364 -1371 %G eng %U https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ele.13102 %N 9 %M KNZ001882 %R 10.1111/ele.13102 %0 Journal Article %J Ecology Letters %D 2017 %T Asynchrony among local communities stabilises ecosystem function of metacommunities %A K.R. Wilcox %A Tredennick, Andrew T. %A Koerner, Sally E. %A Grman, Emily %A Hallett, Lauren M. %A M.L. Avolio %A Kimberly J. La Pierre %A Houseman, Gregory R. %A Isbell, Forest %A Johnson, David Samuel %A Juha M. Alatalo %A Baldwin, Andrew H. %A Edward W. Bork %A Elizabeth H. Boughton %A W.D. Bowman %A Britton, Andrea J. %A Cahill, James F. %A Scott. L. Collins %A G. Du %A Eskelinen, Anu %A Gough, Laura %A Jentsch, Anke %A Kern, Christel %A Klanderud, Kari %A Alan K. Knapp %A Kreyling, Juergen %A Luo, Yiqi %A McLaren, Jennie R. %A Megonigal, Patrick %A Onipchenko, Vladimir %A Prevéy, Janet %A Price, Jodi N. %A Robinson, Clare H. %A Sala, Osvaldo E. %A M.D. Smith %A Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A. %A Souza, Lara %A Tilman, David %A White, Shannon R. %A Xu, Zhuwen %A Yahdjian, Laura %A Yu, Qiang %A Zhang, Pengfei %A Zhang, Yunhai %E Gurevitch, Jessica %K Alpha diversity %K alpha variability %K beta diversity %K Biodiversity %K CoRRE data base %K patchiness %K Plant communities %K Primary productivity %K species synchrony %X

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.

%B Ecology Letters %G eng %U http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12861/epdf %M KNZ001842 %R 10.1111/ele.12861