Send to a friend

The details you provide on this page will not be used to send unsolicited email, and will not be sold to a 3rd party. See privacy policy.

Ecologists have long been embroiled in a debate over the relationship between complexity (diversity) and stability in ecosystems.

Over the course of this debate, the prevailing view has see-sawed between the thesis that diversity begets stability, and the antithesis that diversity either leads to instability or is irrelevant.

New research published in this week’s issue of Nature supports those who claim that diversity does not lead to stability. But there are limits to how widely the findings can be applied.

Link to full text

Reference: Nature 416, 23 (2002)