dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaCommunity Structure and Metacommunity Dynamics of Aquatic Invertebrates: a Test of the Neutral Theory
| Authors | Michael M. Fuller, Tamara N. Romanuk, Jurek Kolasa |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0406023 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0406023 |
Abstract
We used a metacommunity of 49 discrete communities of aquatic invertebrates to analyze the dynamical relationship between community and metacommunity species distributions as a test of the neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. At the community scale, observed variation in species richness and relative abundance was greater than predicted by neutral models, and revealed important differences among species in competitive ability and tolerance for predation. At the metacommunity scale, species with metacommunity proportions of less than 0.01% (38% of the observed metacommunity) were consistently more abundant than predicted by models. Our results are at variance with the neutral theory, and suggest that the use of an identical survival probability for all species in neutral models misrepresents substantial aspects of community assembly. Nevertheless, building and testing neutral models can provide valuable insights into the processes that determine species distributions.
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"abstract": "We used a metacommunity of 49 discrete communities of aquatic invertebrates\nto analyze the dynamical relationship between community and metacommunity\nspecies distributions as a test of the neutral theory of biodiversity and\nbiogeography. At the community scale, observed variation in species richness\nand relative abundance was greater than predicted by neutral models, and\nrevealed important differences among species in competitive ability and\ntolerance for predation. At the metacommunity scale, species with metacommunity\nproportions of less than 0.01% (38% of the observed metacommunity) were\nconsistently more abundant than predicted by models. Our results are at\nvariance with the neutral theory, and suggest that the use of an identical\nsurvival probability for all species in neutral models misrepresents\nsubstantial aspects of community assembly. Nevertheless, building and testing\nneutral models can provide valuable insights into the processes that determine\nspecies distributions.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0406023",
"authors": [
"Michael M. Fuller",
"Tamara N. Romanuk",
"Jurek Kolasa"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.PE"
],
"title": "Community Structure and Metacommunity Dynamics of Aquatic Invertebrates: a Test of the Neutral Theory",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0406023"
},
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