Premium
Functional Complexity and Ecosystem Stability
Author(s) -
Voris Peter Van,
O'Neill Robert V.,
Emanuel William R.,
Shugart H. H.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1939044
Subject(s) - microcosm , ecosystem , ecology , stability (learning theory) , nutrient , population , environmental science , biology , computer science , demography , machine learning , sociology
The hypothesis that complexity and stability are positively correlated was experimentally tested at the ecosystem level of organization using intact terrestrial microcosms. Power spectral densities of hourly CO 2 efflux, from 11 old—field microcosms, were analyzed for the number of low—frequency components. We postulate that the number of peaks is related to functional interactions among system components (i.e., population interactions, physical—chemical reactions, and biological turnover rates) influenced by nonlinearities, feedbacks, and time delays. Thus, the number of low—frequency peaks can be taken as an index of "functional complexity". Relative stability was based on the capacity of the system to retain essential nutrients and was measured by net loss of calcium after the system was stressed with a heavy metal, cadmium. Rank correlation supported the hypothesis that increasing ecosystem functional complexity leads to increasing ecosystem stability.