Local stability properties of complex, species-rich soil food webs with functional block structure

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dc.contributor.authorde Castro, Francisco
dc.contributor.authorAdl, Sina M.
dc.contributor.authorAllesina, Stefano
dc.contributor.authorBardgett, Richard D.
dc.contributor.authorBolger, Thomas
dc.contributor.authorDalzell, Johnathan
dc.contributor.authorEmmerson, Mark
dc.contributor.authorFleming, Thomas
dc.contributor.authorGarlaschelli, Diego
dc.contributor.authorGrilli, Jacopo
dc.contributor.authorHannula, Silja Emilia
dc.contributor.authorde Vries, Franciska
dc.contributor.authorLindo, Zoë
dc.contributor.authorMaule, Aaron G.
dc.contributor.authorÖpik, Maarja
dc.contributor.authorRillig, Matthias C.
dc.contributor.authorVeresoglou, Stavros D.
dc.contributor.authorWall, Diana H.
dc.contributor.authorCaruso, Tancredi
dc.date.accessioned2021-11-05T12:44:45Z
dc.date.available2021-11-05T12:44:45Z
dc.date.issued2021-11-03
dc.descriptionPublication history: Accepted - 14 October 2021; Published online - 3 November 2021.en_US
dc.description.abstractEcologists have long debated the properties that confer stability to complex, species-rich ecological networks. Species-level soil food webs are large and structured networks of central importance to ecosystem functioning. Here, we conducted an analysis of the stability properties of an up-to-date set of theoretical soil food web models that account both for realistic levels of species richness and the most recent views on the topological structure (who is connected to whom) of these food webs. The stability of the network was best explained by two factors: strong correlations between interaction strengths and the blocked, nonrandom trophic structure of the web. These two factors could stabilize our model food webs even at the high levels of species richness that are typically found in soil, and that would make random systems very unstable. Also, the stability of our soil food webs is well-approximated by the cascade model. This result suggests that stability could emerge from the hierarchical structure of the functional organization of the web. Our study shows that under the assumption of equilibrium and small perturbations, theoretical soil food webs possess a topological structure that allows them to be complex yet more locally stable than their random counterpart. In particular, results strongly support the general hypothesis that the stability of rich and complex soil food webs is mostly driven by correlations in interaction strength and the organization of the soil food web into functional groups. The implication is that in real-world food web, any force disrupting the functional structure and distribution pattern of interaction strengths (i.e., energy fluxes) of the soil food webs will destabilize the dynamics of the system, leading to species extinction and major changes in the relative abundances of species.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipTC was supported by the project SENSE (Structure and Ecological Niche in the Soil Environment; EC FP7 –631399 –SENSE). TC and FdC were also supported by the NERC Grant Controls on the stability of soils and their functioning under land use and climate change (NE/M017036/1) as was RDB (NE/M017028/1). MÖ was supported by the European Regional Development Fund [Centre of Excellence EcolChange].en_US
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/368
dc.identifier.citationCastro, F., Adl, S. M., Allesina, S., Bardgett, R. D., Bolger, T., Dalzell, J. J., Emmerson, M., Fleming, T., Garlaschelli, D., Grilli, J., Hannula, S. E., Vries, F., Lindo, Z., Maule, A. G., Öpik, M., Rillig, M. C., Veresoglou, S. D., Wall, D. H. and Caruso, T. (2021) ‘Local stability properties of complex, species‐rich soil food webs with functional block structure’, Ecology and Evolution. Wiley. doi: 10.1002/ece3.8278.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2045-7758 (electronic)
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8278
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.rightsThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2021 The Authors.en_US
dc.subjectblock structureen_US
dc.subjectcomplexityen_US
dc.subjectfood websen_US
dc.subjectfunctional structureen_US
dc.subjectsoilen_US
dc.subjectspeciesen_US
dc.subjectstabilityen_US
dc.titleLocal stability properties of complex, species-rich soil food webs with functional block structureen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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