Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities

Xiaobin Pan; Yann Hautier; Jan Lepš; Shaopeng Wang; Kathryn E Barry; Manuele Bazzichetto; Stefano Chelli; Jiří Doležal; Nico Eisenhauer; Franz Essl; Felícia M Fischer; Oscar Godoy; Daniel Gómez-García; Lars Götzenberger; Clara Gracia; Anaclara Guido; Lauren M Hallett; Susan Harrison; Miao He; Andrew Hector; Pubin Hong; Forest Isbell; George A Kowalchuk; Victor Lecegui; Xiaofei Li; Maowei Liang; Frédérique Louault; Maria Májeková; Rob Marrs; Neha Mohanbabu; Akira S Mori; Robin J Pakeman; Alain Paquette; Begoña Peco; Josep Peñuelas; Valério D Pillar; Marta Rueda; Wolfgang Schmidt; Jules Segrestin; Marta Gaia Sperandii; Enrique Valencia; Vigdis Vandvik; Shengnan Wang; David Ward; Susan Wiser; Ben A Woodcock; Chong Xu; Truman Young; Fei-Hai Yu; Liting Zheng; Zhiwei Zhong; Francesco de Bello

doi:10.1111/nph.70921

Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities

Xiaobin Pan^*
, Yann Hautier
, Jan Lepš
, Shaopeng Wang
, Kathryn E Barry
, Manuele Bazzichetto
, Stefano Chelli
, Jiří Doležal
, Nico Eisenhauer
, Franz Essl
, Felícia M Fischer
, Oscar Godoy
, Daniel Gómez-García
, Lars Götzenberger
, Clara Gracia
, Anaclara Guido
, Lauren M Hallett
, Susan Harrison
, Miao He
, Andrew Hector

Pubin Hong, Forest Isbell, George A Kowalchuk, Victor Lecegui, Xiaofei Li, Maowei Liang, Frédérique Louault, Maria Májeková, Rob Marrs, Neha Mohanbabu, Akira S Mori, Robin J Pakeman, Alain Paquette, Begoña Peco, Josep Peñuelas, Valério D Pillar, Marta Rueda, Wolfgang Schmidt, Jules Segrestin, Marta Gaia Sperandii, Enrique Valencia, Vigdis Vandvik, Shengnan Wang, David Ward, Susan Wiser, Ben A Woodcock, Chong Xu, Truman Young, Fei-Hai Yu, Liting Zheng, Zhiwei Zhong, Francesco de Bello

^*Corresponding author for this work

Sub Ecology and Biodiversity

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Maintaining ecological stability is essential for sustaining ecosystem functions and the benefits they provide to society. Ecological theory predicts that plant diversity destabilizes local populations, yet empirical studies report variable effects. We hypothesize that this discrepancy arises at least in part from differences captured by different diversity (average vs cumulative richness, i.e. the mean annual richness vs the cumulative richness across years) and stability metrics (abundance-unweighted vs weighted mean population stability). To test this, we analyzed data from > 8000 permanent vegetation plots across biomes on five continents. We found a negative (i.e. destabilizing) diversity-stability relationship when using abundance-weighted rather than unweighted measures of population stability, which are more influenced by dominant species. Similarly, cumulative richness - capturing total species occurrence over time and long-term turnover - reveals a stronger destabilizing effect compared to average annual richness. Our findings reveal that, when specific metrics of diversity and stability are considered, more species and potentially the associated increase in interspecific competition tend to destabilize populations across natural ecosystems world-wide - particularly those of dominant species.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	154-165
Journal	The New phytologist
Volume	250
Issue number	1
Early online date	16 Jan 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70921
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 16 Jan 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 The Author(s). New Phytologist © 2026 New Phytologist Foundation.

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Grant No. PID2023‐152801NB‐I00) and benefited from the Biodiversity on a Changing Planet program (DEB‐2224852). Xiaobin Pan was funded by the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 202206620034). We also acknowledge the numerous funding sources that have supported the creation and long‐term maintenance of the diverse projects included in the LOTVS database. We disclose that the manuscript was written entirely by the authors, with support from ChatGPT used to improve text clarity and expression.

Funders	Funder number
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Agencia Estatal de Investigación	PID2023‐152801NB‐I00, DEB‐2224852
China Scholarship Council	202206620034

Keywords

average richness
biodiversity
cumulative richness
dominance
populations
rare species
unweighted and weighted population stability

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10.1111/nph.70921Licence: CC BY

New Phytologist - 2026 - Pan - Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communitiesFinal published version, 3.48 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Pan, X., Hautier, Y., Lepš, J., Wang, S., Barry, K. E., Bazzichetto, M., Chelli, S., Doležal, J., Eisenhauer, N., Essl, F., Fischer, F. M., Godoy, O., Gómez-García, D., Götzenberger, L., Gracia, C., Guido, A., Hallett, L. M., Harrison, S., He, M., ... de Bello, F. (2026). Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities. The New phytologist, 250(1), 154-165. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70921

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title = "Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities",

abstract = "Maintaining ecological stability is essential for sustaining ecosystem functions and the benefits they provide to society. Ecological theory predicts that plant diversity destabilizes local populations, yet empirical studies report variable effects. We hypothesize that this discrepancy arises at least in part from differences captured by different diversity (average vs cumulative richness, i.e. the mean annual richness vs the cumulative richness across years) and stability metrics (abundance-unweighted vs weighted mean population stability). To test this, we analyzed data from > 8000 permanent vegetation plots across biomes on five continents. We found a negative (i.e. destabilizing) diversity-stability relationship when using abundance-weighted rather than unweighted measures of population stability, which are more influenced by dominant species. Similarly, cumulative richness - capturing total species occurrence over time and long-term turnover - reveals a stronger destabilizing effect compared to average annual richness. Our findings reveal that, when specific metrics of diversity and stability are considered, more species and potentially the associated increase in interspecific competition tend to destabilize populations across natural ecosystems world-wide - particularly those of dominant species.",

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doi = "10.1111/nph.70921",

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Pan, X , Hautier, Y, Lepš, J, Wang, S, Barry, KE, Bazzichetto, M, Chelli, S, Doležal, J, Eisenhauer, N, Essl, F, Fischer, FM, Godoy, O, Gómez-García, D, Götzenberger, L, Gracia, C, Guido, A, Hallett, LM, Harrison, S, He, M, Hector, A, Hong, P, Isbell, F, Kowalchuk, GA, Lecegui, V, Li, X, Liang, M, Louault, F, Májeková, M, Marrs, R, Mohanbabu, N, Mori, AS, Pakeman, RJ, Paquette, A, Peco, B, Peñuelas, J, Pillar, VD, Rueda, M, Schmidt, W, Segrestin, J, Sperandii, MG, Valencia, E, Vandvik, V, Wang, S, Ward, D, Wiser, S, Woodcock, BA, Xu, C, Young, T, Yu, F-H, Zheng, L, Zhong, Z & de Bello, F 2026, 'Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities', The New phytologist, vol. 250, no. 1, pp. 154-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70921

TY - JOUR

T1 - Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities

AU - Pan, Xiaobin

AU - Hautier, Yann

AU - Lepš, Jan

AU - Wang, Shaopeng

AU - Barry, Kathryn E

AU - Bazzichetto, Manuele

AU - Chelli, Stefano

AU - Doležal, Jiří

AU - Eisenhauer, Nico

AU - Essl, Franz

AU - Fischer, Felícia M

AU - Godoy, Oscar

AU - Gómez-García, Daniel

AU - Götzenberger, Lars

AU - Gracia, Clara

AU - Guido, Anaclara

AU - Hallett, Lauren M

AU - Harrison, Susan

AU - He, Miao

AU - Hector, Andrew

AU - Hong, Pubin

AU - Isbell, Forest

AU - Kowalchuk, George A

AU - Lecegui, Victor

AU - Li, Xiaofei

AU - Liang, Maowei

AU - Louault, Frédérique

AU - Májeková, Maria

AU - Marrs, Rob

AU - Mohanbabu, Neha

AU - Mori, Akira S

AU - Pakeman, Robin J

AU - Paquette, Alain

AU - Peco, Begoña

AU - Peñuelas, Josep

AU - Pillar, Valério D

AU - Rueda, Marta

AU - Schmidt, Wolfgang

AU - Segrestin, Jules

AU - Sperandii, Marta Gaia

AU - Valencia, Enrique

AU - Vandvik, Vigdis

AU - Wang, Shengnan

AU - Ward, David

AU - Wiser, Susan

AU - Woodcock, Ben A

AU - Xu, Chong

AU - Young, Truman

AU - Yu, Fei-Hai

AU - Zheng, Liting

AU - Zhong, Zhiwei

AU - de Bello, Francesco

PY - 2026/1/16

Y1 - 2026/1/16

N2 - Maintaining ecological stability is essential for sustaining ecosystem functions and the benefits they provide to society. Ecological theory predicts that plant diversity destabilizes local populations, yet empirical studies report variable effects. We hypothesize that this discrepancy arises at least in part from differences captured by different diversity (average vs cumulative richness, i.e. the mean annual richness vs the cumulative richness across years) and stability metrics (abundance-unweighted vs weighted mean population stability). To test this, we analyzed data from > 8000 permanent vegetation plots across biomes on five continents. We found a negative (i.e. destabilizing) diversity-stability relationship when using abundance-weighted rather than unweighted measures of population stability, which are more influenced by dominant species. Similarly, cumulative richness - capturing total species occurrence over time and long-term turnover - reveals a stronger destabilizing effect compared to average annual richness. Our findings reveal that, when specific metrics of diversity and stability are considered, more species and potentially the associated increase in interspecific competition tend to destabilize populations across natural ecosystems world-wide - particularly those of dominant species.

AB - Maintaining ecological stability is essential for sustaining ecosystem functions and the benefits they provide to society. Ecological theory predicts that plant diversity destabilizes local populations, yet empirical studies report variable effects. We hypothesize that this discrepancy arises at least in part from differences captured by different diversity (average vs cumulative richness, i.e. the mean annual richness vs the cumulative richness across years) and stability metrics (abundance-unweighted vs weighted mean population stability). To test this, we analyzed data from > 8000 permanent vegetation plots across biomes on five continents. We found a negative (i.e. destabilizing) diversity-stability relationship when using abundance-weighted rather than unweighted measures of population stability, which are more influenced by dominant species. Similarly, cumulative richness - capturing total species occurrence over time and long-term turnover - reveals a stronger destabilizing effect compared to average annual richness. Our findings reveal that, when specific metrics of diversity and stability are considered, more species and potentially the associated increase in interspecific competition tend to destabilize populations across natural ecosystems world-wide - particularly those of dominant species.

KW - average richness

KW - biodiversity

KW - cumulative richness

KW - dominance

KW - populations

KW - rare species

KW - unweighted and weighted population stability

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105027807231

U2 - 10.1111/nph.70921

DO - 10.1111/nph.70921

M3 - Article

C2 - 41546429

SN - 0028-646X

VL - 250

SP - 154

EP - 165

JO - The New phytologist

JF - The New phytologist

IS - 1

ER -

Reconciling links between diversity and population stability across global plant communities

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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