Relationships between different measures of stability are not well understood in part because empiricists and theoreticians tend to measure different aspects and most studies only explore a single form of stability. Using time-series data from experimental plankton communities, we compared temporal stability typically measured by empiricists (coefficient of variation of biomass) to stability measures typically measured by theoreticians derived from the community matrix (asymptotic resilience, initial resilience, and intrinsic stochastic invariability) using first-order multivariate autoregressive models (MAR). Community matrices were also used to derive estimates of interaction strengths between plankton groups. We found no relationship between temporal stability and stability measures derived from the community matrix. Weaker interaction strengths were generally associated with higher stability for community matrix measures of stability but were not consistently associated with higher temporal stability. Temporal stability and stability measures derived from the community matrix stability appear to represent different aspects of stability reflecting the multi-dimensionality of stability.

The field data were collected as described in Downing et al. 2014. The data were further processed as described in the associated Ecology Letters paper.

Literature cited:

Downing, A.L., Brown, B.L. & Leibold, M.A. (2014). Multiple diversity-stability mechanisms enhance population and community stability in aquatic food webs. Ecology, 95, 173–184.

The 15 CSV files are named for each of the 15 unique zooplankton species compositions as described in the associated manuscript. Each CSV file contains between 1-11 tanks/mesocosms, depending on how many tanks/mesocosms were assigned to that particular composition. 

DAP.csv: Dap

SCA.csv: Sca

CER.csv: Cer

DAPSCA.csv: Dap+Sca

CER_DAP.csv: Dap+Cer

CER_SCA.csv: Sca+Cer

N.csv: N

N_DAP.csv: N–Dap

N_SCA.csv: N–Sca

N_CER.csv: N–Cer

N_I.csv: N_I

N_CER_DAP.csv: N–Cer–Dap

N_CER_SCA.csv: N–Cer–Sca

N_SCA_DAP.csv: N–Dap–Sca

N_I_DAP.csv: N_I –Dap

Variables in the CSV files are as follows:

TANK: The number indicates a particular tank or mesocosm. Multiple entries per tank are ordered by time. A typical temporal sequence for each tank includes 26 time points sampled every 4 or 5 days beginning from May 25^th to September 19^th. Time points were removed in some tanks with missing data resulting in some time-series with fewer than 26 time points.

FLUCT: values indicate constant nutrient environment (always at 150 ug P/l) or fluctuating environment (ranging between 99 and 167 ug P/L over a two week cycle) to reflect the pulsed or constant environments.

PRED: indicates presence of insect predators Notonectidae or Pleidae (1) or absence of insect predators (0).

Cer_ug: Ceriodaphnia reticulata, µg dry weight per liter

Dapp_ug: Daphnia pulex, µg dry weight per liter

Sca_ug: Scapholebris mucronaae, µg dry weight per liter

Clad_ug: A sum of small cladocerans including Chydorus, Alona, Bosmina, Simocephalus, Diaphanosoma, and others, µg dry weight per liter

e_chl: edible algae(< 35 µm) in µg chla/l

i_chl: inedible algae (> 35 µm) in µg chla/l