Does the stability of an ecosystem depend on its biodiversity and which ecosystem is most stable and has the most biodiversity?
Hi there,
It is not very straight forward. This article explains the mechanisms involved when there is a postive effect of biodiversityon stability.
They state "Three main mechanisms are likely to operate in the stabilising effects of biodiversity on ecosystem properties:
(1) asynchrony of species’ intrinsic responses to environmental fluctuations, (2) differences in the speed at which species respond to perturbations,
(3) reduction in the strength of competition."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ele.12073?casa_token=3pLyJldm4LAAAAAA:13_tHe0wcGp1XB_ENbYZT-CQou-MUQnk1GeyqzFDPwqpmXGy6eEW8wmNecewFHs_iADXE5TZ_P47XNcQ
Another article shows a very interesting relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem stability (u-shaped):
"...biodiversity can increase overall ecosystem stability when biodiversity is low, and decrease it when biodiversity is high, or the opposite with a U-shaped relationship."
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0627-8
Ecosystem stability is the ability of an ecosystem to maintain a steady state, even after a stress or disturbance has occurred. Greater biodiversity in ecosystems, species, and individuals leads to greater stability. As, species with high genetic diversity and many populations that are adapted to a wide variety of conditions are more likely to be able to weather disturbances, disease, and climate change. Variation among species in their response to such fluctuation is an essential requirement for ecosystem stability, as is the presence of species that can compensate for the function of species that are lost. Having a number of different organisms increases the stability of an ecosystem, because a change in the population of one organism will have less effect on the population of an organism that depends on it. Ecological life support biodiversity provides functioning ecosystems that supply oxygen, clean air and water, pollination of plants, pest control, wastewater treatment and many ecosystem services. That is, biodiversity can increase overall ecosystem stability when biodiversity is low, and decrease it when biodiversity is high, or the opposite with a U-shaped relationship. Oceans are the most stable ecosystems. Other terrestrial ecosystems undergo changes and succession of biotic components. But oceans remain stable for the long duration of time. Tropical forests have the highest biodiversity and primary productivity of any of the terrestrial biomes. Trophical rainforests are rich in terms of biodiversity and arid and semiarid areas have low biodiversity. Tropical forests are widely considered to have the greatest species diversity of the terrestrial biomes and the tundra biome has the least.
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