The dimensionality of stability depends on disturbance type

Ecosystems respond in various ways to disturbances. Quantifying ecological stability therefore requires inspecting multiple stability properties, such as resistance, recovery, persistence, and invariability. Correlations among these properties can reduce the dimensionality of stability, simplifying the study of environmental effects on ecosystems. A key question is how the kind of disturbance affects these correlations. We here investigated the effect of three disturbance types (random, species-specific, local) applied at four intensity levels, on the dimensionality of stability at the population and community level. We used previously parameterized models that represent five natural communities, varying in species richness and the number of trophic levels. We found that disturbance type but not intensity affected the dimensionality of stability and only at the population level. The dimensionality of stability also varied greatly among species and communities. Therefore, studying stability cannot be simplified to using a single metric and multi-dimensional assessments are still to be recommended.

生态系统会以多种方式响应外界干扰。故而量化生态稳定性，需对多项稳定性属性展开考察，例如抗性（resistance）、恢复力（recovery）、持久性（persistence）以及恒定性（invariability）。上述属性间的相关性可降低稳定性研究的维度，进而简化环境因素对生态系统影响的相关研究。核心科学问题之一为：干扰类型会如何调控这些属性间的相关性。本研究针对三种干扰类型（随机干扰（random）、物种特异性干扰（species-specific）、局部干扰（local）），设置四个强度梯度，探究其对种群与群落水平下稳定性维度的影响。本研究采用了预先参数化的模型，该模型涵盖5个自然群落，其物种丰富度与营养级数量均存在差异。研究结果表明：仅在种群水平上，干扰类型会对稳定性维度产生影响，而干扰强度无显著作用；此外，稳定性维度在不同物种与群落间亦存在显著差异。由此可见，生态稳定性的研究无法仅通过单一指标进行简化，仍需采用多维度评估方案。