How does turnover time structure affect ecosystem stability?

• David M. Post

Abstract
Ecosystem stability is a basic ecological concept with important implications for the exploitation, management, and restoration of ecosystems subject to natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Much contemporary research has focused on understanding how food-web characteristics such as species diversity and food-chain length affect ecosystem stability. Ecosystem stability can also be affected by the turnover times (or generation times) of key ecosystem components. There are striking differneces in turnover times of ecosystem components in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; however, there is currently no empirical or theoretical framework for assessing how these differences affect ecosystem stability. I propose to use a combination of literature analysis and simulation modeling to understand how turnover times differ among ecosystems and how the general differences affect two important components of ecosystem stability - resistance and resilience. By working broadly in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, I hope to develop and test general patterns and principles concerning how the turnover times of ecosystem components are related to stability.