The effects of spatial configurations on metaecosystem stability and functioning

Background/Question/Methods

Metaecosystem theory has provided an important framework to integrate ecosystem, community and spatial ecology by emphasizing the role of spatial flows of organisms and materials between ecosystems. However, most models within the proposed framework have two major assumptions: 1) spatial structure of meta-ecosystems can be reduced to a two-ecosystem or spatially implicit configuration and 2) there is only one limiting nutrient within the metaecosystem. Here, we relax these two assumptions in order to determine the sensitivity of metaecosystems to their spatial configurations and ecological stoichiometry. We do so by creating networks of thirty local ecosystems, within each one there are two limiting nutrients, autotrophs, and herbivores. The local ecosystems are then connected through the flows of nutrients and organisms.

Results/Conclusions

Our results show that the spatial structures of metaecosystems play a key role in determining the dynamics and functioning of the metaecosystem. Metaecosystems that have numerous links between ecosystems and/or have at least one ecosystem that is highly connected experience diffusion-induced instabilities at lower movement rates of nutrients. However, the amount of variability experienced in metaecosystems for large movement rates can be lower in highly connected metaecosystems. Therefore, the highly connected metaecosystems can promote local ecosystem variability and reduce regional variability. Furthermore, the addition of a second limiting nutrient allows for both more complex dynamics and important modifications to stability conditions. This study indicates that both spatial configurations and ecological stoichiometry are key elements that must be further investigated in metaecosystem theory.