An invariability-area relationship sheds new light on the spatial scaling of ecological stability

Shaopeng Wang (1, 2, 3) , Michel Loreau (2) , Jean-François Arnoldi (2) , Jingyun Fang (4) , K. Abd. Rahman (5) , Shengli Tao (4) , Claire de Mazancourt (2)

1 Friedrich-Schiller-Universität = Friedrich Schiller University Jena [Jena, Germany]
2 SETE - Station d'écologie théorique et expérimentale
3 iDiv - German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research
4 Peking University [Beijing]
5 Forest Research Institute Malaysia

The spatial scaling of stability is key to understanding ecological sustainability across scales and the sensitivity of ecosystems to habitat destruction. Here we propose the invariability–area relationship (IAR) as a novel approach to investigate the spatial scaling of stability. The shape and slope of IAR are largely determined by patterns of spatial synchrony across scales. When synchrony decays exponentially with distance, IARs exhibit three phases, characterized by steeper increases in invariability at both small and large scales. Such triphasic IARs are observed for primary productivity from plot to continental scales. When synchrony decays as a power law with distance, IARs are quasilinear on a log–log scale. Such quasilinear IARs are observed for North American bird biomass at both species and community levels. The IAR provides a quantitative tool to predict the effects of habitat loss on population and ecosystem stability and to detect regime shifts in spatial ecological systems, which are goals of relevance to conservation and policy.

Mots clés: Ecological modelling; Ecosystem ecology; Population dynamics; Theoretical ecology

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

Shaopeng Wang, Michel Loreau, Jean-François Arnoldi, Jingyun Fang, K. Abd. Rahman, et al.. An invariability-area relationship sheds new light on the spatial scaling of ecological stability. Nature Communications, 2017, 8 (1), ⟨10.1038/ncomms15211⟩. ⟨hal-02978517⟩