Our planet is facing significant changes of biodiversity across spatial scales. Although the negative effects of local biodiversity (α diversity) loss on ecosystem stability are well documented, the consequences of biodiversity changes at larger spatial scales, in particular biotic homogenization, that is, reduced species turnover across space (β diversity), remain poorly known. Using data from 39 grassland biodiversity experiments, we examine the effects of β diversity on the stability of simulated landscapes while controlling for potentially confounding biotic and abiotic factors. Our results show that higher β diversity generates more asynchronous dynamics among local communities and thereby contributes to the stability of ecosystem productivity at larger spatial scales. We further quantify the relative contributions of α and β diversity to ecosystem stability and find a relatively stronger effect of α diversity, possibly due to the limited spatial scale of our experiments. The stabilizing effects of both α and β diversity lead to a positive diversity-stability relationship at the landscape scale. Our findings demonstrate the destabilizing effect of biotic homogenization and suggest that biodiversity should be conserved at multiple spatial scales to maintain the stability of ecosystem functions and services.

Agricultural Research Service Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory U S Department of Agriculture Temple Texas 76502 USA

Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station CNRS and Paul Sabatier University Moulis 09200 France

Centro de Modelación y Monitoreo de Ecosistemas Facultad de Ciencias Universidad Mayor José Toribio Molina 29 Santiago 8340589 Chile

Department of Biogeography BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth 95440 Germany

Department of Biology Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo Ontario N2L 3C5 Canada

Department of Botany Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia České Budějovice 37005 Czech Republic

Department of Disturbance Ecology BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth 95440 Germany

Department of Ecology Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota St Paul Minnesota USA

Department of Ecology Evolution and Organismal Biology Iowa State University Ames Iowa USA

Department of Forest Resources University of Minnesota St Paul Minnesota 55108 USA

Department of Functional Ecology Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences Třeboň 37901 Czech Republic

Department of Geography Remote Sensing Laboratories University of Zurich Winterthurerstrasse 190 Zurich 8057 Switzerland

Department of Plant Sciences University of Oxford Oxford OX1 3RB UK

Experimental Plant Ecology Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology Greifswald University Greifswald 17487 Germany

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig 04103 Germany

Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment Western Sydney University Penrith New South Wales 2751 Australia

Institute of Biology Geobotany and Botanical Garden Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg Am Kirchtor 1 Halle 06108 Germany

Institute of Biology Leipzig University Leipzig 04103 Germany

Institute of Entomology Biology Centre CAS České Budějovice 37005 Czech Republic

Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education Institute of Ecology College of Urban and Environmental Sciences Peking University Beijing 100871 China

Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group Wageningen University Wageningen 6700 AA The Netherlands

UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics University College Dublin Dublin 4 Ireland

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