Extended Data Fig. 4: Overview of terms and the concept of overall ecosystem stability.

Measured ecosystem functions (left-most top box) can each have multiple components of stability (for example, temporal variability, resistance and resilience of biomass production), each of which can be combined into a measure of overall stability. When—as in our study—there is only one ecosystem function, this overall stability of a specific function is also the overall ecosystem stability. In studies of more than one ecosystem function, the overall stability of several functions could be combined to give overall ecosystem stability. Alternatively, one could first calculate ecosystem multifunctionality and then measure its stability components.