Biodiversity influences community stability? Results of semiarid shallow lakes

The idea that species diversity influences community stability is a long-standing ecological thought. Most field researches debating this subject have been carried out in terrestrial ecosystems, mainly grasslands. In intermittent aquatic ecosystems this paradigm became more complex due to the influence of hydrological stability. Here we report quantitative results of macrophyte biomass of two selected intermittent shallow lakes. We observed that biodiversity provides a higher biomass and community stability, and greater resistance to disturbance by drought. Our results suggest that situations of stress or coexistence favores resistance to drought, high population stability, and attainment of maximum biomass. Field experiments in intermittent shallow lakes sustain the hypothesis that biodiversity influences community stability. These results can subsidize national strategies for conservation of biodiversity. (AU)