Table 1.
Hypotheses related to key predictions from theories relating biodiversity, asynchrony, and stability within and among interconnected communities.
| Pathway | Hypotheses and mechanisms | References |
|---|---|---|
| Within communities | ||
| Species richness → species stability | Higher plant richness within a community either increases or decreases the temporal stability of species abundances within the community by either decreasing or increasing variation in individual species abundances from year to year. | 8 |
| Species richness → species asynchrony | Higher plant richness within a community provides greater likelihood for asynchronous fluctuations among species to compensate one another when the number of species is higher. | 51 |
| Species stability → alpha stability | Higher temporal stability of species abundances within the community increases the temporal stability of community productivity due to lower variation in individual species abundances from year to year | 8,14 |
| Species asynchrony → alpha stability | Higher species asynchronous responses to environmental fluctuations within the community increases the temporal stability of community productivity because declines in the abundance of some species are compensated for by increases in others, thus buffering temporal fluctuation in the abundance of the whole community (species or local insurance hypothesis). | 8,14,19,20 |
| Among communities | ||
| Beta diversity → spatial asynchrony | Higher variation and dissimilarity in species composition among communities increase asynchronous community responses to environmental fluctuations. | 16 |
| Alpha stability → gamma stability | Higher temporal stability of local communities cascades to larger scales and increase the temporal stability of total ecosystem function at the landscape level | 15 |
| Spatial asynchrony → gamma stability | Higher asynchronous community responses to environmental fluctuations increase temporal stability of productivity at the larger scale because declines in the productivity of some communities are compensated for by increases in others, thus buffering temporal fluctuation in the productivity of interconnected local communities (spatial insurance hypothesis). | 15,18 |