Community ecology: Diversity, Stability, Function
Dr. Dan Simberloff
1912
Summerhayes, V.S. and Elton, C.S. 1923. Contributions to the ecology
of Spitsbergen and Bear Island. Journal of Ecology 11(2): 216-233.
1927
Charles Elton
http://maggiesscienceconnection.weebly.com/habitats-food-chains--webs-trophic-pyramid.html
http://nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/crd/crd1215/
1958
Diversity begets stability
1) Mathematical models of 2-species systems tend to
be very unstable.
2) Laboratory experiments with just 2 species tend to
lead to extinction of one or both (e.g., Gause).
3) Communities on small islands much more likely
to be devastated by biological invasions than
those on continents.
4) Outbreaks and invasions occur more frequently
on cultivated land than in natural habitats.
5) Ecological stability and lack of invasions in tropics.
6) Research on orchards showing that spraying with
pesticides (e.g., DDT) killed predators and led to
outbreaks of pests.
Simberloff, D.
2012. Integrity,
stability, and
beauty: Aldo
Leopold’s evolving
view of nonnative
species.
Environmental
History 17(3): 487511.
1973
main take-home message:
Contrary to ecology’s central
dogma, increased species number
and complexity of food web
structure usually lead to decreased
stability. Therefore ecologists
ought to focus on those particular
types of complexity that produce
mathematical stability, since there
seems to be a high but not perfect
correlation in nature between
complexity of trophic structure
and stability of the community.
1975
Goodman, D. 1975. The theory of diversity-stability relationships in
ecology. The Quarterly Review of Biology 50(3): 237-266.
Science 2001
Ecological Monographs 2001
Nature 441, 629-632, 2006)
VS.
TRENDS in Ecology & Evolution Vol.16, No.11 November 2001
Science 1997
Paul and Anne Ehrlich
1) the “rivet-popper hypothesis” (Ehrlichs)
(functional redundancy)
2) complementarity
3) facilitation
Jennifer Dunne
Dunne, J. 2008. Food webs. In R.A. Myers (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
complexity and systems science (pp. 3661-3682). New York: Springer
Dunne, J. 2008. Food webs. In R.A. Myers (Ed.),
Encyclopedia of complexity and systems science
(pp. 3661-3682). New York: Springer
Dunne, J. 2008. Food webs. In R.A. Myers (Ed.),
Encyclopedia of complexity and systems science
(pp. 3661-3682). New York: Springer
Dunne, J. 2008. Food webs. In R.A. Myers (Ed.),
Encyclopedia of complexity and systems science
(pp. 3661-3682). New York: Springer
Cadotte et al. 2011,
J. Applied Ecology
Mouillot, D. et al. 2013. A functional approach
reveals community responses to disturbances.
Trends in Ecology & Evolution 28(3): 167-177.
Mouillot, D. et al. 2013. A functional approach
reveals community responses to disturbances.
Trends in Ecology & Evolution 28(3): 167-177.