Data_Sheet_1_Individual species and site dynamics are the main drivers of spatial scaling of stability in aquatic communities.CSV

IntroductionAny measure of ecological stability scales with the spatial and temporal extent of the data on which it is based. The magnitude of stabilization effects at increasing spatial scale is determined by the degree of synchrony between local and regional species populations.
MethodsWe applied two recently developed approaches to quantify these stabilizing effects to time series records from three aquatic monitoring data sets differing in environmental context and organism type.
Results and DiscussionWe found that the amount and general patterns of stabilization with increasing spatial scale only varied slightly across the investigated species groups and systems. In all three data sets, the relative contribution of stabilizing effects via asynchronous dynamics across space was higher than compensatory dynamics due to differences in biomass fluctuations across species and populations. When relating the stabilizing effects of individual species and sites to species and site-specific characteristics as well as community composition and aspects of spatial biomass distribution patterns, however, we found that the effects of single species and sites showed large differences and were highly context dependent, i.e., dominant species can but did not necessarily have highly stabilizing or destabilizing effects on overall community biomass. The sign and magnitude of individual contributions depended on community structure and the spatial distribution of biomass and species in space. Our study therefore provides new insights into the mechanistic understanding of ecological stability patterns across scales in natural species communities.

生态稳定性的各项衡量指标，其表现均随其所依托的数据的空间与时间覆盖范围而变化。随着空间尺度的扩大，稳定效应的强弱由局域与区域物种种群间的同步程度所决定。
我们采用两种新近开发的方法，对三类环境背景与生物类群均存在差异的水生监测数据集的时间序列记录进行分析，以量化此类稳定效应。
研究发现，随着空间尺度增大，稳定效应的强度与整体模式在各受试物种类群和生态系统间仅存在细微差异。在全部三类数据集当中，通过空间异步动态产生的稳定效应的相对贡献，高于因物种种群间生物量波动差异而引发的补偿动态效应。不过，当将单个物种种群与样地的稳定效应，与其物种、样地的特异性特征、群落组成以及空间生物量分布格局的相关属性进行关联分析时，我们发现单个物种种群与样地的稳定效应差异显著，且高度依赖于具体环境背景：即优势种虽可对群落总生物量产生极强的稳定或致不稳定效应，但并非必然如此。单个贡献的方向与强度，取决于群落结构以及生物量和物种的空间分布格局。因此，本研究为解析自然物种种群群落中跨尺度生态稳定性格局的内在机制提供了全新视角。