Direct evidence that density-dependent regulation underpins the temporal stability of abundant species in a diverse animal community.

ABSTRACT: To understand how ecosystems are structured and stabilized, and to identify when communities are at risk of damage or collapse, we need to know how the abundances of the taxa in the entire assemblage vary over ecologically meaningful timescales. Here, we present an analysis of species temporal variability within a single large vertebrate community. Using an exceptionally complete 33-year monthly time series following the dynamics of 81 species of fishes, we show that the most abundant species are least variable in terms of temporal biomass, because they are under density-dependent (negative feedback) regulation. At the other extreme, a relatively large number of low abundance transient species exhibit the greatest population variability. The high stability of the consistently common high a

SUBMITTER: Henderson PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4132688 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature