Data from: Interspecific competition promotes compensatory dynamics but not ecosystem temporal stability

Understanding determinants of ecological stability is a major goal of community ecology. While much stability research has examined the role of species diversity, how basic ecological processes, such as interspecific competition (hereafter competition), affect ecosystem stability remains poorly understood. Using laboratory microcosm experiments consisting of competing bacterivorous ciliate species, we found that competition amplified compensatory dynamics among species. However, competition also caused a decline in the statistical-averaging effect, leading to no net competition effect on species asynchrony or ecosystem temporal stability. These effects of competition were largely attributed to species niche differences, not relative fitness differences. Moreover, experimental treatments of warming and environmental fluctuation mainly reduced species stability, and in turn, ecosystem temporal stability. Our study provides novel experimental evidence for the role of competition in modulating the dynamics of interacting species, contributing to a more mechanistic understanding of how competition, as a ubiquitous force in nature, influences species and ecosystem stability.