Data-Biodiversity and ecosystem stability

Emerging evidence emphasizes the crucial role of biodiversity in stabilizing ecosystem functioning, yet whether the stabilizing effect of biodiversity depends on the timescale of the study and the measure of biodiversity remain largely unclear. Here, we combined a regional-scale vegetation survey of the Tibetan alpine grasslands and a global-scale plant diversity database and investigated the impacts of biodiversity on ecosystem productivity stability assessed by satellite data across various time scales. We identified a similar temporal pattern at both regional and global scales: the stabilizing effect of plant diversity on productivity strengthened over time, reaching a near-saturation threshold around the timescale of 13 years. As the timescale increases, phylogenetic diversity emerged as a key predictor of ecosystem stability, surpassing taxonomic and functional diversity. In contrast, specific plant functional traits, such as community height, primarily influenced short-term ecosystem stability. Our findings underscore the temporal scale dependence of the biodiversity-ecosystem stability relationship at regional and global scales, as well as the critical role of phylogenetic diversity in preserving ecosystem stability.

越来越多的研究证据表明，生物多样性（biodiversity）在维持生态系统功能稳定性中发挥着至关重要的作用，但生物多样性的稳定效应是否依赖于研究的时间尺度以及生物多样性的度量方式，目前仍尚未明确。本研究结合青藏高原高寒草地的区域尺度植被调查数据与全球尺度植物多样性数据库，探究了不同时间尺度下，通过卫星数据评估的生物多样性对生态系统生产力稳定性的影响。我们在区域与全球尺度均发现了相似的时间格局：植物多样性对生产力的稳定效应随时间推移不断增强，在约13年的时间尺度附近达到近饱和阈值。随着时间尺度的延长，系统发育多样性（phylogenetic diversity）成为生态系统稳定性的关键预测因子，其解释力超越了分类多样性（taxonomic diversity）与功能多样性（functional diversity）。与之相对，特定的植物功能性状（plant functional traits）如群落高度，主要影响短期生态系统稳定性。本研究结果证实，在区域与全球尺度上，生物多样性与生态系统稳定性的关系存在时间尺度依赖性，同时也凸显了系统发育多样性在维持生态系统稳定性中的关键作用。