From environmental heterogeneity to stability: Beta‐diversity stabilizes biomass across space
Benedikt Brunner, James G. Hagan, Jesper Hassellöv, Julia Mari Murata, Lara Colaço Martins, Pedro de La Patelliere, Elena Schrofner‐Brunner, Lars Gamfeldt · 2026
Read From environmental heterogeneity to stability: Beta‐diversity stabilizes biomass across space by Benedikt Brunner, James G. Hagan, Jesper Hassellöv, Julia Mari Murata, Lara Colaço Martins, Pedro de La Patelliere, Elena Schrofner‐Brunner, Lars Gamfeldt (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13584661.txt.
Description
Variety across a landscape can steady the total growth of life on it, and a 2026 study by Benedikt Brunner and co-authors tests that claim in the sea. The spatial insurance idea says shifting species mixes buffer ecosystems, as long as each species thrives where it fits best.
Computer metacommunities varied how much species' needs overlapped. Turnover steadied biomass across sites when overlap was low to middling, once uneven conditions were accounted for, and the effect faded as niches widened. A field test with marine bottom communities matched: high turnover blunted the harm that uneven conditions did to stability. The work gives the insurance idea a cleaner test than it has had.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Benedikt Brunner, James G. Hagan, Jesper Hassellöv, Julia Mari Murata, Lara Colaço Martins, Pedro de La Patelliere, Elena Schrofner‐Brunner, Lars Gamfeldt |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 59 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |