Evidence item

Synthesizing ~25 y of fish community data across 146 sites spanning coral reef, mangrove, seagrass, and kelp ecosystems, we found that species richness had strong, positive effects on the temporal stability of consumer-mediated nutrient dynamics—measured as nitrogen supply via excretion—across ecosystems. Within ecosystems, species asynchrony (i.e., the degree to which species’ biomasses fluctuate independently) was the most important driver, showing a positive relationship with stability. ... We estimated the temporal stability of nitrogen supply for marine fish communities using 146 time series, spanning ~25 y (1999–2023) and six long-term monitoring programs ... representing ~1.5 million individual fishes. ... higher synchrony destabilizing CND.