M. Loreau

Ubiquity of inverted 'gelatinous' ecosystem pyramids in the global ocean

The paper quantifies plankton community structure globally, revealing inverted biomass pyramids dominated by gelatinous organisms and predicting future shifts in oceanic carbon cycles.

The distribution of distances to the edge of species coexistence

The paper derives an analytical distribution of distances to the edge of species coexistence in Lotka-Volterra models, using interaction matrices and applies it to experimental plant community data.

How collectively integrated are ecological communities?

The paper investigates whether ecological community dynamics depend more on direct species interactions or indirect feedbacks, showing that the spectral radius of the interaction matrix determines the contribution of indirect pathways.

Linking intrinsic scales of ecological processes to characteristic scales of biodiversity and functioning patterns

This study uses simulations to explore how different ecological process scales affect biodiversity and ecosystem functioning patterns, finding that dispersal and species interactions have opposing effects on spatial heterogeneity.

Predator avoidance and foraging for food shape synchrony and response to perturbations in trophic metacommunities

This paper models how predator avoidance and foraging influence dispersal rates in trophic metacommunities, showing that density-dependent dispersal alters spatial synchrony and response to perturbations.

Habitat percolation transition undermines sustainability in social-ecological agricultural systems

The paper models the impact of agricultural expansion and intensification on ecosystem sustainability, finding that clustering agricultural land is most effective for preserving natural habitats.

Scaling up biodiversity ecosystem functioning relationships: the role of environmental heterogeneity in space and time

This study uses a Lotka-Volterra model to show that biodiversity required for ecosystem functioning increases with spatial or temporal scale, especially when environmental autocorrelation is low.

Agricultural land use and the sustainability of social-ecological systems

The paper models the dynamics of human demography and land use to assess the viability of different agricultural strategies and their impact on sustainability.

Unequal access to resources undermines global sustainability

The paper models a global socio-ecological system to show that unequal resource access and technological disparities lead to lower population well-being and greater land degradation.

Habitat fragmentation and food security in crop pollination systems

This study models how habitat fragmentation affects crop yields through pollination, showing that biodiversity and landscape structure are critical for stable food production.

How community adaptation affects biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships

This study models how community adaptation affects biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships, finding that adapted communities show different patterns in productivity, stability, and invasion resistance compared to random communities.

Can biomass distribution across trophic levels predict trophic cascades?

This study shows that biomass distribution and trophic cascades are linked through trophic dissipation, using data from aquatic mesocosm experiments.

Fingerprints of high-dimensional coexistence in complex ecosystems

This study explores high-dimensional coexistence in ecosystems using grassland biodiversity data, showing that biodiversity arises from collective organization rather than individual species interactions.

Synchrony and perturbation transmission in trophic metacommunities

The paper models trophic metacommunities to study how perturbations propagate through species populations and how dispersal affects synchrony and extinction risk.

Ecotone formation through ecological niche construction: the role of biodiversity and species interactions

This study shows that biodiversity and species interactions, particularly through ecological niche construction, can lead to the formation of ecotones through indirect environmental modifications.

Global distribution of earthworm diversity

The paper predicts global patterns of earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass using a dataset from 7000 sites, finding climate drives these patterns but with differences from aboveground taxa.

The inherent multidimensionality of temporal variability: How common and rare species shape stability patterns

The paper shows how variability in ecological communities, viewed as a response to stochastic perturbations, reveals stability properties shaped by common and rare species.

Reconciling biodiversity conservation, food production and farmers’ demand

The paper models how landscape composition affects biodiversity and crop production, finding intermediate semi-natural habitat levels can balance stakeholder demands.

Pyramids and cascades: a synthesis of food chain functioning and stability

The paper synthesizes food chain theory by combining energetic and dynamical approaches to explore conditions for biomass pyramids and trophic cascades.

The impact of spatial and temporal dimensions of disturbances on ecosystem stability

This study investigates how spatial and temporal features of disturbances affect ecosystem stability using three models, finding that disturbance extent and frequency interact to influence recovery and persistence.

Trade-offs in provisioning and stability of multiple ecosystem services in agroecosystems

The paper develops a model to study trade-offs and synergies in ecosystem services in agroecosystems, showing how landscape composition affects service stability and crop production.

The mechanics of predator-prey interactions: first principles of physics predict predator-prey size ratios

The paper develops a mechanical model to predict predator-prey interactions based on body size and metabolic laws, showing better accuracy than existing models.

The three regimes of spatial recovery

The paper identifies three recovery regimes in spatially structured ecosystems and their implications for population stability and response to disturbances.

Generic assembly patterns in complex ecological communities

The paper shows that generic behaviors in ecological communities can be predicted using a random model, highlighting the role of statistical properties over detailed structure.

The relationship between the spatial scaling of biodiversity and ecosystem stability

The paper develops a theoretical model linking biodiversity and ecosystem stability across spatial scales, showing how spatial scaling affects their relationship.

Foresight Is Required To Enforce Sustainability Under Time-Delayed Biodiversity Loss

The paper models how time-delayed biodiversity loss affects sustainability by showing that social pressure and ecological feedbacks determine system stability and regime shifts.

How ecosystems recover from pulse perturbations: A theory of short- to long-term responses

This paper explains why short-term recovery rates in ecosystems differ from long-term resilience, showing that short-term responses depend on perturbation distribution and species abundance.

Time-delayed biodiversity feedbacks and the sustainability of social-ecological systems.

This paper develops a dynamical model to study how delayed ecological feedbacks from land conversion impact the sustainability of social-ecological systems, showing that certain system characteristics can lead to environmental crises.

Environmental responses, not species interactions, determine synchrony of dominant species in semiarid grasslands

The paper investigates factors determining synchrony in semiarid grassland species, finding environmental responses drive synchrony more than interactions or stochasticity.