The Impact of Spatial and Temporal Dimensions of Disturbances on Ecosystem Stability.

ABSTRACT: Ecosystems constantly face disturbances which vary in their spatial and temporal features, yet little is known on how these features affect ecosystem recovery and persistence, i.e., ecosystem stability. We address this issue by considering three ecosystem models with different local dynamics, and ask how their stability properties depend on the spatial and temporal properties of disturbances. We measure the spatial dimension of disturbances by their spatial extent while controlling for their overall strength, and their temporal dimension by the average frequency of random disturbance events. Our models show that the return to equilibrium following a disturbance depends strongly on the disturbance's extent, due to rescue effects mediated by dispersal. We then reveal a direct relation betwee

SUBMITTER: Zelnik YR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6379063 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature