Multi-habitat landscapes are more diverse and stable with improved function

Hackett, T. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7727-8842, Sauve, A. M. C., Maia, K. P., Montoya, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5521-5282, Davies, N., Archer, R., Potts, S. G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2045-980X, Tylianakis, J. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7402-5620, Vaughan, I. P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7263-3822 and Memmott, J. (2024) Multi-habitat landscapes are more diverse and stable with improved function. Nature, 633 (8028). pp. 114-119. ISSN 1476-4687 doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07825-y

Abstract/Summary

Conservation, restoration and land management are increasingly implemented at landscape scales1,2. However, because species interaction data are typically habitat- and/or guild-specific, exactly how those interactions connect habitats and affect the stability and function of communities at landscape scales remains poorly understood. We combine multi-guild species interaction data (plant–pollinator and three plant–herbivore–parasitoid communities, collected from landscapes with one, two or three habitats), a field experiment and a modelling approach to show that multi-habitat landscapes support higher species and interaction evenness, more complementary species interactions and more consistent robustness to species loss. These emergent network properties drive improved pollination success in landscapes with more habitats and are not explained by simply summing component habitat webs. Linking landscape composition, through community structure, to ecosystem function, highlights mechanisms by which several contiguous habitats can support landscape-scale ecosystem services.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/120206
Identification Number/DOI	10.1038/s41586-024-07825-y
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of Sustainable Land Management > Centre for Agri-environmental Research (CAER)
Publisher	Nature Publishing
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