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Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 5, 2026

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Coherent ecological dynamics induced by large-scale disturbance.

Timothy H Keitt1

  • 1Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA. tkeitt@mail.utexas.edu

Nature
|July 18, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Ecological communities can respond to disturbances synchronously or with compensatory dynamics. This study found that plankton communities exhibited unexpected synchrony after disturbance, increasing seasonal biomass variation.

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Community Ecology
  • Ecological Dynamics

Background:

  • Ecosystems rely on post-disturbance dynamics for stability in changing environments.
  • Community responses to disturbance range from synchronous oscillations to compensatory dynamics.
  • Timescale influences the detection of synchrony and compensation, with spectral analysis revealing obscured patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate community-level responses to experimental disturbance in plankton communities.
  • To resolve the paradox of increased seasonal biomass variation despite expected compensatory dynamics.
  • To examine the role of species seasonality in community stability after disturbance.

Main Methods:

  • Application of wavelet analysis to experimentally manipulated plankton communities.

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  • Analysis of time series data to detect patterns of synchrony and compensation.
  • Examination of seasonal biomass variation and species composition shifts.

    • Main Results:

    • Experimental disturbance induced strong synchrony in plankton community biomass.
    • A significant increase in seasonal biomass variation was observed post-disturbance.
    • Disturbance led to a loss of cold-season species and dominance of warm-season species, causing coherent seasonal peaks.

    Conclusions:

    • Community-level synchrony can increase ecological instability, contrary to some theoretical predictions.
    • Compensatory dynamics alone do not guarantee community stability; seasonal complementarity is crucial.
    • Ecological stability theories must incorporate seasonal patterns of species dominance and sensitivity to disturbance.