Stability patterns of spatial food webs in coloured environments

• In times when climate change is expected to cause an increased environmental variability it is important to understand how species respond to disturbances. We explore how the stability of species respond to changes in environmental noise by introducing noise colour to different spatial and multi-trophic model systems: (1) a diamond shaped food web with stable oscillations, (2) a stabilized diamond shaped food web, and (3) a food web with stable dynamics. We conclude that adding space and additional trophic levels makes species response to environmental noise colour consistent. All three food webs and species decreased in stability with increased redness, positive temporal autocorrelation, of the environmental noise. Hence, interactions between noise colour and species responsiveness previously found in single- and multi-species models were not found when comparing more natural food webs differing in stability properties. When adding a spatial dimension, all food webs and species increased in stability. Both the diamond shaped and the stabilized diamond shaped food web were significantly more stable than the food web with more typical stable dynamics when existing in a variable and spatial setting. The major route to explain stability and the existence of a diverse world may then be the variable and spatial complexity of nature.

Nyckelord

Coloured environmental noise

dispersal

food web

stability

subpopulation

synchrony

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)