Temporal variability in aboveground plant biomass decreases as spatial variability increases

McGranahan, Devan Allen; Hovick, Torre J.; Elmore, R. Dwayne; Engle, David M.; Fuhlendorf, Samuel D.; Winter, Stephen L.; Miller, James R.; Debinski, Diane M.

doi:10.1890/15-0906

Cited by 22 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…To balance replication with regression, we must (1) landscape-level heterogeneity and stability (Wang & Loreau, 2014;McGranahan et al, 2016). Meanwhile, we demonstrate here that spatial heterogeneity and temporal stability are associated with beta diversity in standard community composition data ( Figure 2), making it possible for researchers without the data, or capacity to apply complicated models, to still make inference into heterogeneity-related ecosystem functions.…”

Section: Biggsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…. Patterns within the linear trend reflected those ofMcGranahan et al (2016) in which the regression line was bound by the single-patch landscape at the low end and three-to fourpatch landscapes on the high end, with six-and eight-patch landscapes occupying the middle. This suggests a diminished effect beyond four patches in the association between beta diversity and spatial heterogeneity(Figure 2).…”

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confidence: 79%

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Moderate patchiness optimizes heterogeneity, stability, and beta diversity in mesic grassland

McGranahan

Hovick

Elmore

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Heterogeneous disturbance patterns are fundamental to rangeland conservation and management because heterogeneity creates patchy vegetation, broadens niche availability, increases compositional dissimilarity, and enhances temporal stability of aboveground biomass production. Pyrodiversity is a popular concept for how variability in fire as an ecological disturbance can enhance heterogeneity, but mechanistic understanding of factors that drive heterogeneity is lacking. Mesic grasslands are examples of ecosystems in which pyrodiversity is linked strongly to broad ecological processes such as trophic interactions because grazers are attracted to recently burned areas, creating a unique ecological disturbance referred to as the fire–grazing interaction, or pyric herbivory. But several questions about the application of pyric herbivory remain: What proportion of a grazed landscape must burn, or how many patches are required, to create sufficient spatial heterogeneity and reduce temporal variability? How frequently should patches burn? Does season of fire matter? To bring theory into applied practice, we studied a gradient of grazed tallgrass prairie landscapes created by different sizes, seasons, and frequencies of fire, and used analyses sensitive to nonlinear trends. The greatest spatial heterogeneity and lowest temporal variability in aboveground plant biomass, and greatest plant functional group beta diversity, occurred in landscapes with three to four patches (25%–33% of area burned) and three‐ to four‐year fire return intervals. Beta diversity had a positive association with spatial heterogeneity and negative relationship with temporal variability. Rather than prescribing that these results constitute best management practices, we emphasize the flexibility offered by interactions between patch number and fire frequency for matching rangeland productivity and offtake to specific management goals. As we observed no differences across season of fire, we recommend future research focus on fire frequency within a moderate proportion of the landscape burned, and consider a wider seasonal burn window.

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Section: Biggsmentioning

confidence: 82%

mentioning

confidence: 79%

Moderate patchiness optimizes heterogeneity, stability, and beta diversity in mesic grassland

McGranahan

Hovick

Elmore

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

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“…due to strong seasonality in production or flowering) and understanding change in variability may be more informative than change in overall stability (e.g. O'Gorman & Emmerson 2009;McGranahan et al 2016). Thus, examining the mean and variability of a function in addition to a scaled response such as stability can provide greater insight into the impacts of environmental change on biological stability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of grassland production is robust to changes in the consumer food web

et al. 2019

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Theory predicts that consumers may stabilise or destabilise plant production depending on model assumptions, and tests in aquatic food webs suggest that trophic interactions are stabilising. We quantified the effects of trophic interactions on temporal variability (standard deviation) and temporal stability (mean/standard deviation) of grassland biomass production and the plant diversity–stability relationship by experimentally removing heterotrophs (large vertebrates, arthropods, foliar and soil fungi) from naturally and experimentally assembled grasslands of varying diversity. In both grassland types, trophic interactions proportionately decreased plant community biomass mean and variability over the course of 6 years, leading to no net change in temporal stability or the plant diversity–stability relationship. Heterotrophs also mediated plant coexistence; their removal reduced diversity in naturally assembled grasslands. Thus, herbivores and fungi reduce biomass production, concurrently reducing the temporal variability of energy and material fluxes. Because of this coupling, grassland stability is robust to large food web perturbations.

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“…Temporal community variability may therefore engender stable ecosystem function even in the face of a temporally variable environment. Thus, high spatial and temporal community heterogeneity has implications for the provisioning of ecosystem services, like rangeland (McGranahan et al 2016) and fisheries production (Schindler et al 2010), crop pollination by wild native bees (Winfree and Kremen 2009), and other services (Duffy 2009, Balvanera et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal heterogeneity increases with spatial heterogeneity in ecological communities

Collins

Avolio

Gries

et al. 2018

Ecology

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Heterogeneity is increasingly recognized as a foundational characteristic of ecological systems. Under global change, understanding temporal community heterogeneity is necessary for predicting the stability of ecosystem functions and services. Indeed, spatial heterogeneity is commonly used in alternative stable state theory as a predictor of temporal heterogeneity and therefore an early indicator of regime shifts. To evaluate whether spatial heterogeneity in species composition is predictive of temporal heterogeneity in ecological communities, we analyzed 68 community data sets spanning freshwater and terrestrial systems where measures of species abundance were replicated over space and time. Of the 68 data sets, 55 (81%) had a weak to strongly positive relationship between spatial and temporal heterogeneity, while in the remaining communities the relationship was weak to strongly negative (19%). Based on a mixed model analysis, we found a significant but weak overall positive relationship between spatial and temporal heterogeneity across all data sets combined, and within aquatic and terrestrial data sets separately. In addition, lifespan and successional stage were negatively and positively related to temporal heterogeneity, respectively. We conclude that spatial heterogeneity may be a predictor of temporal heterogeneity in ecological communities, and that this relationship may be a general property of many terrestrial and aquatic communities.

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Temporal variability in aboveground plant biomass decreases as spatial variability increases

Cited by 22 publications

References 42 publications

Moderate patchiness optimizes heterogeneity, stability, and beta diversity in mesic grassland

Moderate patchiness optimizes heterogeneity, stability, and beta diversity in mesic grassland

Stability of grassland production is robust to changes in the consumer food web

Temporal heterogeneity increases with spatial heterogeneity in ecological communities

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