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The Identification of Patterns in the Relation Between Biodiversity and Mutualistic Ecosystem Function Based on
Changchun Lv1, Ye Zhang1, Yulin Lei1
1School of Information and Control Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710311, China.
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|March 28, 2025
Summary
This study introduces a model to assess species impact on ecosystem functions, identifying redundant species by their effect on average abundance and tipping points. Some ecosystems show redundancy, while others highlight the essential role of every species.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Ecosystem Science
- Network Theory
Background:
- Understanding the link between biodiversity and ecosystem function is crucial.
- Mutualistic interactions are fundamental to ecosystem stability and services.
- Quantifying individual species' contributions to these functions remains challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a model for evaluating the impact of individual species on mutualistic ecosystem functions.
- To establish a criterion for identifying redundant species within these ecosystems.
- To analyze patterns of species essentiality and redundancy in mutualistic networks.
Main Methods:
- Developed an interpretive model based on network resilience to represent ecosystem functions (average abundance and tipping point).
- Classified species using the F-core based on their collapse order.
- Quantitatively assessed species' influence by simulating their removal.
- Validated the model using twenty-four mutualistic ecosystems.
Main Results:
- The model identified two distinct patterns: ecosystems with redundant species and those where all species are essential.
- Redundant species were defined as those whose removal impacts average abundance but not the tipping point.
- In redundant ecosystems, specialist species were more frequently identified as redundant.
Conclusions:
- The proposed model effectively differentiates between essential and redundant species in mutualistic ecosystems.
- The findings highlight the varying importance of species, with specialist species sometimes being redundant.
- This research provides a quantitative framework for biodiversity-ecosystem function assessments.
Keywords:
biodiversitycomplex networkmutualistic ecosystem functionnetwork resilienceredundancy hypothesisMore Related Videos
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