图4. 结构稳定性理论的物种共存框架。群落中有4个核心因素: 物种库、群落结构、环境因子和物种共存。这些核心因素之间都有着具体的生态过程(蓝色): 群落聚合、结构变化、群落动力学、环境梯度和环境胁迫。结构稳定性理论试图将这些生态过程整合在一个统一的框架下。对于图中的每一个生态过程, 结构稳定性理论都提出了新的假说和验证方法, 并在实验以及观测数据中得到了验证。

Fig. 4. The structural stability approach for understanding multispecies coexistence. The nodes denote the key elements in ecological dynamics: species pool, community structure, environmental factors, and species coexistence. The links represent the ecological processes (denoted in blue) that connect these elements: community assembly, structural change, ecological dynamics, environmental gradient, and environmental stress. The structural stability approach aims to integrate these ecological processes under a unified framework. For each process, the structural stability approach provides new theoretical predictions, which are validated by experimental and/or observational data.