In:
Ecology Letters, Wiley, Vol. 12, No. 10 ( 2009-10), p. 1079-1090
Abstract:
Ecological models suggest that high diversity can be generated by purely niche‐based, purely neutral or by a mixture of niche‐based and neutral ecological processes. Here, we compare the degree to which four contrasting hypotheses for coexistence, ranging from niche‐based to neutral, explain species richness along a body mass niche axis. We derive predictions from these hypotheses and confront them with species body‐mass patterns in a highly sampled marine phytoplankton community. We find that these patterns are consistent only with a mechanism that combines niche and neutral processes, such as the emergent neutrality mechanism. In this work, we provide the first empirical evidence that a niche‐neutral model can explain niche space occupancy pattern in a natural species‐rich community. We suggest this class of model may be a useful hypothesis for the generation and maintenance of species diversity in other size‐structured communities.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1461-023X
,
1461-0248
DOI:
10.1111/ele.2009.12.issue-10
DOI:
10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01364.x
Language:
English
Publisher:
Wiley
Publication Date:
2009
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2020195-3
SSG:
12
