On the Noisy Balance of Nature in a Changing World

Here, I examine the dynamics and stability (broadly defined) of ecological systems from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. I argue that nature’s “balance” is best understood by embracing the idea that organisms live in a variable spatio-temporal world. From this perspective, I review macroecological patterns to argue that existing data that is independent of food webs suggests that food webs ought to be structured spatially in a manner that yields key behavioral “switch points” for organisms across spatial scales -- these switch points that occur throughout a food web enable behavior that tends to reduce large scale fluctuations in density. Then, using empirical work from my lab I show that these behavioral switch point in food webs can be tracked across gradients in changing resource availability conditions. I end by using both theory and empirical results to discuss some of the functional and stability implications of these structures, and how global change is intersecting with natures underlying structure to erode the resilience of ecosystems.