Avaliando múltiplos fatores de estabilidade da abundância de borboletas ao longo da Europa

Abstract

Anthropogenic pressures on natural environments have been causing a loss of biodiversity with important consequences for the provision and stability of ecosystem services. However, the vast majority of studies on biodiversity and stability have focused on fine spatial scales and we still do not know well how different aspects of diversity influence ecosystem stability across scales. Here, we coupled a continental scale database of butterflies’ abundances (231 species and 349 metacommunities) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to assess the role of geographic distance, α and β diversity in stabilizing aggregate ecosystem properties (e.g., species abundance) at multiple spatial scales across Europe. Multiple variables are important in the network of processes that determine ecosystem stability across spatial scales. Community (local) stability increased with species stability and species asynchrony, while local stability and spatial asynchrony increased stability at the metacommunity (regional) scale. Local stability and metapopulation asynchrony were the main drivers of regional stability and spatial asynchrony, respectively. Biodiversity (α and β-diversity) increased stability by increasing asynchrony among species, metapopulations and communities. The geographic distance among communities was also important as an indirect driver of regional stability through its positive effect on β-diversity and metapopulation asynchrony. Regional stability of ecosystem properties come from multiple pathways, with direct implications for conservation and management. In addition, our results indicate that ongoing biodiversity loss and biotic homogenization can destabilize ecosystem processes by increasing the synchrony among species and local communities.