Stability
How do dramatic responses (tipping points) emerge at the scale of whole ecosystems?
Some ecosystems are known to respond to gradual changes in an abrupt, unexpected and often irreversible manner – what researchers refer to as ‘catastrophic shifts’. How do such dramatic responses emerge at the scale of whole ecosystems?
While we have a good understanding of how ecosystem shifts can emerge in simple models, it is still puzzling to figure out how networks of diverse interactions between various species can determine the stability and resilience of entire ecosystems.
Are abrupt shifts, or collapses, possible in networks that include the diversity of species that compose ecosystems as well as the diversity of interactions that link species? If yes, how does the architecture of such networks affect the way ecosystems are able to adapt, respond to and recover from perturbations?
Some publications:
G Aguadé‐Gorgorió, J Arnoldi, M Barbier, S Kéfi. 2024. Ecology Letters.
A taxonomy of multiple stable states in complex ecological communities.
B Pichon, I Gounand, S Donnet, S Kéfi. 2024. Ecology.
The interplay of facilitation and competition drives the emergence of multistability in dryland plant communities.
C Saade, EA Fronhofer, B Pichon, S Kéfi. 2023. The American Naturalist.
Landscape structure affects metapopulation-scale tipping points..
HAL.
S Kéfi, C Saade, EL Berlow, JS Cabral, EA Fronhofer. 2022.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Scaling up our understanding of tipping points..
HAL
A Danet, FD Schneider, F Anthelme, S Kéfi. 2021. Theoretical Ecology.
Indirect facilitation drives species composition and stability in drylands..
HAL