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Navigating the complexity of ecological stability.

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Date
2016-09
Authors
Donohue, Ian
Hillebrand, Helmut
Montoya, José M
Petchey, Owen L
Pimm, Stuart L
Fowler, Mike S
Healy, Kevin
Jackson, Andrew L
Lurgi, Miguel
McClean, Deirdre
O'Connor, Nessa E
O'Gorman, Eoin J
Yang, Qiang
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Abstract
Human actions challenge nature in many ways. Ecological responses are ineluctably complex, demanding measures that describe them succinctly. Collectively, these measures encapsulate the overall 'stability' of the system. Many international bodies, including the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, broadly aspire to maintain or enhance ecological stability. Such bodies frequently use terms pertaining to stability that lack clear definition. Consequently, we cannot measure them and so they disconnect from a large body of theoretical and empirical understanding. We assess the scientific and policy literature and show that this disconnect is one consequence of an inconsistent and one-dimensional approach that ecologists have taken to both disturbances and stability. This has led to confused communication of the nature of stability and the level of our insight into it. Disturbances and stability are multidimensional. Our understanding of them is not. We have a remarkably poor understanding of the impacts on stability of the characteristics that define many, perhaps all, of the most important elements of global change. We provide recommendations for theoreticians, empiricists and policymakers on how to better integrate the multidimensional nature of ecological stability into their research, policies and actions.
Type
Journal article
Subject
Ecology
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecosystem
Biodiversity
Terminology as Topic
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23543
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1111/ele.12648
Publication Info
Donohue, Ian; Hillebrand, Helmut; Montoya, José M; Petchey, Owen L; Pimm, Stuart L; Fowler, Mike S; ... Yang, Qiang (2016). Navigating the complexity of ecological stability. Ecology letters, 19(9). pp. 1172-1185. 10.1111/ele.12648. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23543.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Scholars@Duke

Pimm

Stuart L. Pimm

Doris Duke Distinguished Professor of Conservation Ecology in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
Stuart Pimm is a world leader in the study of present-day extinctions and what can be done to prevent them. His research covers the reasons why species become extinct, how fast they do so, the global patterns of habitat loss and species extinction and, importantly, the management consequences of this research. Pimm received his BSc degree from Oxford University in 1971 and his Ph.D. from New Mexico State University in 1974. Pimm is the author of over 350 scientific papers and five books. He i
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