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Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities

Mike Fowler Orcid Logo

Journal of Theoretical Biology, Volume: 258, Issue: 2

Swansea University Author: Mike Fowler Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.01.010

Abstract

The relationship between community complexity and stability has been the subject of an enduring debate in ecology over the last 50 years. Results from early model communities showed that increased complexity is associated with decreased local stability. I demonstrate that increasing both the number...

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Published in: Journal of Theoretical Biology
ISSN: 0022-5193
Published: 2009
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa14881
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first_indexed 2013-07-23T12:13:04Z
last_indexed 2018-02-09T04:46:32Z
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spelling 2013-06-13T09:45:44.3651693 v2 14881 2013-05-23 Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities a3a29027498d4b43a3f082a0a5ba16b4 0000-0003-1544-0407 Mike Fowler Mike Fowler true false 2013-05-23 SBI The relationship between community complexity and stability has been the subject of an enduring debate in ecology over the last 50 years. Results from early model communities showed that increased complexity is associated with decreased local stability. I demonstrate that increasing both the number of species in a community and the connectance between these species results in an increased probability of local stability in discrete-time competitive communities, when some species would show unstable dynamics in the absence of competition. This is shown analytically for a simple case and across a wider range of community sizes using simulations, where individual species have dynamics that can range from stable point equilibria to periodic or more complex. Increasing the number of competitive links in the community reduces per-capita growth rates through an increase in competitive feedback, stabilising oscillating dynamics. This result was robust to the introduction of a trade-off between competitive ability and intrinsic growth rate and changes in species interaction strengths. This throws new light on the discrepancy between the theoretical view that increased complexity reduces stability and the empirical view that more complex systems are more likely to be stable, giving one explanation for the relative lack of complex dynamics found in natural systems. I examine how these results relate to diversity–biomass stability relationships and show that an analytical solution derived in the region of stable equilibrium dynamics captures many features of the change in biomass fluctuations with community size in communities including species with oscillating dynamics. Journal Article Journal of Theoretical Biology 258 2 188 0022-5193 31 12 2009 2009-12-31 10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.01.010 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University 2013-06-13T09:45:44.3651693 2013-05-23T12:34:52.1481897 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Mike Fowler 0000-0003-1544-0407 1
title Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities
spellingShingle Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities
Mike Fowler
title_short Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities
title_full Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities
title_fullStr Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities
title_full_unstemmed Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities
title_sort Increasing community size and connectance can increase stability in competitive communities
author_id_str_mv a3a29027498d4b43a3f082a0a5ba16b4
author_id_fullname_str_mv a3a29027498d4b43a3f082a0a5ba16b4_***_Mike Fowler
author Mike Fowler
author2 Mike Fowler
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Theoretical Biology
container_volume 258
container_issue 2
publishDate 2009
institution Swansea University
issn 0022-5193
doi_str_mv 10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.01.010
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 0
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description The relationship between community complexity and stability has been the subject of an enduring debate in ecology over the last 50 years. Results from early model communities showed that increased complexity is associated with decreased local stability. I demonstrate that increasing both the number of species in a community and the connectance between these species results in an increased probability of local stability in discrete-time competitive communities, when some species would show unstable dynamics in the absence of competition. This is shown analytically for a simple case and across a wider range of community sizes using simulations, where individual species have dynamics that can range from stable point equilibria to periodic or more complex. Increasing the number of competitive links in the community reduces per-capita growth rates through an increase in competitive feedback, stabilising oscillating dynamics. This result was robust to the introduction of a trade-off between competitive ability and intrinsic growth rate and changes in species interaction strengths. This throws new light on the discrepancy between the theoretical view that increased complexity reduces stability and the empirical view that more complex systems are more likely to be stable, giving one explanation for the relative lack of complex dynamics found in natural systems. I examine how these results relate to diversity–biomass stability relationships and show that an analytical solution derived in the region of stable equilibrium dynamics captures many features of the change in biomass fluctuations with community size in communities including species with oscillating dynamics.
published_date 2009-12-31T03:17:01Z
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score 11.037581

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