Quantifying the ecological stability of a phytoplankton community: The Lake Kinneret case study

•We developed an approach to quantify the stability of lake phytoplankton.•This approach was applied to the Lake Kinneret phytoplankton.•The dynamics of the community destabilization was studied at several levels.•Main features of the community destabilization were revealed.•Emergent character of the stability of phytoplankton community was confirmed.