Improving our understanding of stability across spatial scales is crucial in the current scenario of biodiversity loss. Still, most empirical studies of stability target small scales. We experimentally removed the local space-dominant species (macroalgae, barnacles, or mussels) at eight sites spanning more than 1000 km of coastline in north- and south-central Chile, and quantified the relationship between area (the number of aggregated sites) and stability in aggregate community variables (total cover) and taxonomic composition. Resistance, recovery, and invariability increased nonlinearly with area in both functional and compositional domains. Yet, the functioning of larger areas achieved a better, albeit still incomplete, recovery than composition. Compared with controls, smaller disturbed areas tended to overcompensate in terms of total cover. These effects were related to enhanced available space for recruitment (resulting from the removal of the dominant species), and to increasing beta diversity and decaying community-level spatial synchrony (resulting from increasing area). This study provides experimental evidence for the pivotal role of spatial scale in the ability of ecosystems to resist and recover from chronic disturbances. This knowledge can inform further ecosystem restoration and conservation policies.

中文翻译：

---

响应物种移除的岩石潮间带群落的稳定性在空间尺度上有所不同

在当前生物多样性丧失的情况下，提高我们对跨空间尺度稳定性的理解至关重要。尽管如此，大多数稳定性的实证研究都是针对小规模的。我们在智利中北部和中南部超过 1000 公里海岸线的八个地点通过实验去除了当地的空间优势物种（巨藻、藤壶或贻贝），并量化了面积（聚集地点的数量）和总体群落变量（总覆盖）和分类组成的稳定性。阻力、恢复和不变性随功能域和组成域中的面积而非线性增加。然而，与组合相比，更大区域的功能实现了更好的恢复，尽管仍然不完整。与对照相比，较小的受干扰区域在总覆盖方面往往会过度补偿。这些影响与增加的可用空间有关（由于优势物种的移除），以及β多样性增加和群落级空间同步性下降（由于面积增加）。这项研究为空间尺度在生态系统抵抗慢性干扰和从慢性干扰中恢复的能力中的关键作用提供了实验证据。这些知识可以为进一步的生态系统恢复和保护政策提供信息。这项研究为空间尺度在生态系统抵抗慢性干扰和从慢性干扰中恢复的能力中的关键作用提供了实验证据。这些知识可以为进一步的生态系统恢复和保护政策提供信息。这项研究为空间尺度在生态系统抵抗慢性干扰和从慢性干扰中恢复的能力中的关键作用提供了实验证据。这些知识可以为进一步的生态系统恢复和保护政策提供信息。