Journal article

Publication year: 2023

Pages: 1819-1840

Journal: Ecosystems

Volume number: 26

Issue number: 8

ISSN: 1432-9840

eISSN: 1435-0629

Open access status: Hybrid

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-023-00867-9

Publisher: Springer

Abstract: 
Complex links between biotic and abiotic constituents are fundamental for the functioning of ecosystems. Although non-monotonic interactions and associations are known to increase the stability, diversity, and productivity of ecosystems, they are frequently ignored by community-level standard statistical approaches. Using the copula-based dependence measure qad, capable of quantifying the directed and asymmetric dependence between variables for all forms of (functional) relationships, we determined the proportion of non-monotonic associations between different constituents of an ecosystem (plants, bacteria, fungi, and environmental parameters). Here, we show that up to 59% of all statistically significant associations are non-monotonic. Further, we show that pairwise associations between plants, bacteria, fungi, and environmental parameters are specifically characterized by their strength and degree of monotonicity, for example, microbe-microbe associations are on average stronger than and differ in degree of non-monotonicity from plant-microbe associations. Considering directed and non-monotonic associations, we extended the concept of ecosystem coupling providing more complete insights into the internal order of ecosystems. Our results emphasize the importance of ecological non-monotonicity in characterizing and understanding ecosystem patterns and processes.

Harvard Citation style: Hanusch, M., He, X., Janssen, S., Selke, J., Trutschnig, W. and Junker, R. (2023) Exploring the Frequency and Distribution of Ecological Non-monotonicity in Associations among Ecosystem Constituents, Ecosystems, 26(8), pp. 1819-1840. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-023-00867-9

APA Citation style: Hanusch, M., He, X., Janssen, S., Selke, J., Trutschnig, W., & Junker, R. (2023). Exploring the Frequency and Distribution of Ecological Non-monotonicity in Associations among Ecosystem Constituents. Ecosystems. 26(8), 1819-1840. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-023-00867-9