Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34453056›Full record

ArticleNature communications2021

Universal scaling of robustness of ecosystem services to species loss.

Samuel R P-J Ross, Jean-François Arnoldi, Michel Loreau, Cian D White, Jane C Stout, Andrew L Jackson, Ian Donohue

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Informing spatial conservation prioritization with species' traits.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Mutilation of the tree of life via mass extinction of animal genera.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Samuel R P-J Ross *Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0001-9402-9119
Jean-François Arnoldi *Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0001-9373-4051
Michel LoreauTheoretical and Experimental Ecological Station, CNRS, Moulis, France.ORCID 0000-0002-0122-495X
Cian D WhiteDepartment of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Jane C StoutDepartment of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0002-2027-0863
Andrew L JacksonDepartment of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0001-7334-0434
Ian DonohueDepartment of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. ian.donohue@tcd.ie.ORCID 0000-0002-4698-6448

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Ensuring reliable supply of services from nature is key to the sustainable development and well-being of human societies. Varied and frequently complex relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem services have, however, frustrated our capacity to quantify and predict the vulnerability of those services to species extinctions. Here, we use a qualitative Boolean modelling framework to identify universal drivers of the robustness of ecosystem service supply to species loss. These drivers comprise simple features of the networks that link species to the functions they perform that, in turn, underpin a service. Together, they define what we call network fragility. Using data from >250 real ecological networks representing services such as pollination and seed-dispersal, we demonstrate that network fragility predicts remarkably well the robustness of empirical ecosystem services. We then show how to quantify contributions of individual species to ecosystem service robustness, enabling quantification of how vulnerability scales from species to services. Our findings provide general insights into the way species, functional traits, and the links between them together determine the vulnerability of ecosystem service supply to biodiversity loss.

Indexed as

EcosystemExtinction, BiologicalBiodiversityModels, BiologicalPlant Physiological PhenomenaPlantsPollinationSeed DispersalSustainable Development

Identifiers

PMID34453056
PMCPMC8397752

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.