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Stability and Diversity of Ecosystems

2007; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 317; Issue: 5834 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1133258

1095-9203

Anthony R. Ives, Stephen R. Carpenter,

Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies

Understanding the relationship between diversity and stability requires a knowledge of how species interact with each other and how each is affected by the environment. The relationship is also complex, because the concept of stability is multifaceted; different types of stability describing different properties of ecosystems lead to multiple diversity-stability relationships. A growing number of empirical studies demonstrate positive diversity-stability relationships. These studies, however, have emphasized only a few types of stability, and they rarely uncover the mechanisms responsible for stability. Because anthropogenic changes often affect stability and diversity simultaneously, diversity-stability relationships cannot be understood outside the context of the environmental drivers affecting both. This shifts attention away from diversity-stability relationships toward the multiple factors, including diversity, that dictate the stability of ecosystems.