Disturbance agents interact synergistically and compound with environmental stress

Evidence

Two agents of disturbance may act synergistically, as well as interact with stress. Schowalter (Chapter 13, this volume) shows that stress may predispose a tree to fungus attack and that tree stress, insect outbreaks, windfall, drought, and fire may influence each other synergistically. This is likely to be true in other cases as well, e.g., the combined influences of physical disturbance and predators on marine systems (Connell and Keough, Chapter 8, this volume). — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2235

Categorization

• XREF: Directly connects to earlier chapter notes (ch43 insect outbreaks crossing thresholds after stress, ch44 fire exclusion reducing disturbance). — connects to: Biological agents and man-caused change both sit on one disturbance continuum. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1109; Intermediate disturbance works by preserving patch structure, not protecting weak competitors — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1939; Suppressing disturbance makes ecosystems more vulnerable to catastrophe — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2073 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• A biological disturbance can buffer a population against a physical disturbance #exemplifies (0.85) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1028
• Unrelated sessile communities obey the same disturbance-diversity rule #expands (0.80) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 300
• Suppressing disturbance makes ecosystems more vulnerable to catastrophe #complicates (0.75) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2073
• Diversified flexibility confers resilience in unpredictable environments across scales #complicates (0.72) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 343