title: Stability and complexity in model meta-ecosystems.
abstract: The diversity of life and its organization in networks of interacting species has been a long-standing theoretical puzzle for ecologists. Ever since May's provocative paper challenging whether 'large complex systems [are] stable' various hypotheses have been proposed to explain when stability should be the rule, not the exception. Spatial dynamics may be stabilizing and thus explain high community diversity, yet existing theory on spatial stabilization is limited, preventing comparisons of the role of dispersal relative to species interactions. Here we incorporate dispersal of organisms and material into stability-complexity theory. We find that stability criteria from classic theory are relaxed in direct proportion to the number of ecologically distinct patches in the meta-ecosystem. Further, we find the stabilizing effect of dispersal is maximal at intermediate intensity. Our results highlight how biodiversity can be vulnerable to factors, such as landscape fragmentation and habitat loss, that isolate local communities.
authors.affiliation: Département de biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boul. De l'Université, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada J1K 2R1.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gravel
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Université de Lille - Sciences et Technologies, UMR 8198 Evo-Eco-Paleo (EEP), SPICI group, F-59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.|UMR 5175 CEFE-Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CNRS), 1919 Route de Mende, F-34293 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Massol
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Mathew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Leibold
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017753:Ecosystem; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008954:Models, Biological; D011157:Population Dynamics