Complexity, Stability, and Functional Response

Abstract

The relationship between complexity and stability in natural communities is discussed with regard to Nunney''s (1980) suggestion of specific features of biological systems which may result in stability increasing with complexity. Nunney argued that if the resource consumers in a trophic web have stabilizing functional responses, stability of the whole web will increase as complexity increases. Nunney''s arguments and conclusions are reexamined. Two counterexamples are presented in which systems with stabilizing functional responses exhibit decreasing stability with increasing complexity. Stabilizing functional responses do not guarantee increasing stability-complexity relationships. The question still remains whether increasing stability-complexity relationships might be more likely when consumers have stabilizing functional responses.