scholarly journals Emergent neutrality in consumer-resource dynamics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael D’Andrea ◽  
Theo Gibbs ◽  
James P. O’Dwyer
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Biodiversity Patterns ◽  
Interspecific Differences ◽  
Community Turnover ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions ◽  
Resource Dynamics ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

AbstractNeutral theory assumes all species and individuals in a community are ecologically equivalent. This controversial hypothesis has been tested across many taxonomic groups and environmental contexts, and successfully predicts species abundance distributions across multiple high-diversity communities. However, it has been critiqued for its failure to predict a broader range of community properties, particularly regarding community dynamics from generational to geological timescales. Moreover, it is unclear whether neutrality can ever be a true description of a community given the ubiquity of interspecific differences, which presumably lead to ecological inequivalences. Here we derive analytical predictions for when and why non-neutral communities of consumers and resources may present neutral-like outcomes, which we verify using numerical simulations. Our results, which span both static and dynamical community properties, demonstrate the limitations of summarizing distributions to detect non-neutrality, and provide a potential explanation for the successes of neutral theory as a description of macroecological pattern.Author SummaryThe neutral theory of biodiversity assumes that species are ecologically equivalent. Given the natural history observation of ubiquitous phenotypic differences between species, it is surprising that neutral theory has successfully predicted a broad range of biodiversity patterns, and simultaneously unsurprising that these results have not convinced ecologists that the natural world is neutral. However, we have lacked a description of how neutrality can emerge in a natural way from ecological mechanisms and species differences. Our study sheds light on this question, providing a theoretical backdrop for the success of neutral theory as a description of macroecological pattern. We derive a prediction for the degree to which consumers must differ in preferences for different resources before the resulting biodiversity patterns become distinguishable from neutrality. These predictions, which we confirm using simulations, show that neutral-like outcomes are possible even when resource requirements across consumers are very far from neutral. Our results can be tested in experimental microbial communities, where, equipped with an inferred consumption network, our analysis can yield predictions for biodiversity patterns and community turnover at different taxonomic levels.

scholarly journals Towards a unification of niche and neutral models of community ecology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Laan ◽  
Gonzalo G. de Polavieja
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Niche Theory ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions ◽  
Restoring Forces ◽  
Neutral Models

AbstractEcological models of community dynamics fall into two main categories. The neutral theory of biodiversity correctly predicts various large-scale ecosystem characteristics such as the species abundance distributions. On a smaller scale, the niche theory of species competition explains population dynamics and interactions between two to a dozen species. Despite the successes of the two theories, they rely on two contradictory assumptions. In the neutral theory each species is competitively equivalent while in the niche theory every species is specialized to exploit a specific part of its environment. Here we propose a resolution to this contradiction using a game theory model of competition with an attractor hyperplane as its equilibrium solution. When the population dynamics shifts within the hyperplane, it is selectively neutral. However, any movement perpendicular to the hyperplane is subject to restoring forces similar to what is predicted by the niche theory. We show that this model correctly reproduces empirical species abundance distributions and is also compatible with species removal experiments.

scholarly journals The Dynamic Hypercube as a Niche Community Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Halley ◽  
Stuart L. Pimm
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Evolutionary Time ◽  
Community Model ◽  
Theory Of Island Biogeography ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions ◽  
Hypercube Model ◽  
Zero Sum

Different models of community dynamics, such as the MacArthur–Wilson theory of island biogeography and Hubbell’s neutral theory, have given us useful insights into the workings of ecological communities. Here, we develop the niche-hypervolume concept of the community into a powerful model of community dynamics. We describe the community’s size through the volume of the hypercube and the dynamics of the populations in it through the fluctuations of the axes of the niche hypercube on different timescales. While the community’s size remains constant, the relative volumes of the niches within it change continuously, thus allowing the populations of different species to rise and fall in a zero-sum fashion. This dynamic hypercube model reproduces several key patterns in communities: lognormal species abundance distributions, 1/f-noise population abundance, multiscale patterns of extinction debt and logarithmic species-time curves. It also provides a powerful framework to explore significant ideas in ecology, such as the drift of ecological communities into evolutionary time.

scholarly journals Understanding how biodiversity unfolds through time under neutral theory

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1691) ◽  
pp. 20150226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Missa ◽  
Calvin Dytham ◽  
Hélène Morlon
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Dynamic Equilibrium ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Biodiversity Patterns ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions ◽  
Species Area ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Time Required

Theoretical predictions for biodiversity patterns are typically derived under the assumption that ecological systems have reached a dynamic equilibrium. Yet, there is increasing evidence that various aspects of ecological systems, including (but not limited to) species richness, are not at equilibrium. Here, we use simulations to analyse how biodiversity patterns unfold through time. In particular, we focus on the relative time required for various biodiversity patterns (macroecological or phylogenetic) to reach equilibrium. We simulate spatially explicit metacommunities according to the Neutral Theory of Biodiversity (NTB) under three modes of speciation, which differ in how evenly a parent species is split between its two daughter species. We find that species richness stabilizes first, followed by species area relationships (SAR) and finally species abundance distributions (SAD). The difference in timing of equilibrium between these different macroecological patterns is the largest when the split of individuals between sibling species at speciation is the most uneven. Phylogenetic patterns of biodiversity take even longer to stabilize (tens to hundreds of times longer than species richness) so that equilibrium predictions from neutral theory for these patterns are unlikely to be relevant. Our results suggest that it may be unwise to assume that biodiversity patterns are at equilibrium and provide a first step in studying how these patterns unfold through time.

scholarly journals The commonness of rarity: Global and future distribution of rarity across land plants

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Joseph Enquist ◽  
Xiao Feng ◽  
Bradley Boyle ◽  
Brian Maitner ◽  
Erica A. Newman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Rare Species ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Land Plant ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Heavy Tailed Distributions ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions ◽  
Heavy Tailed

A key feature of life’s diversity is that some species are common but many more are rare. Nonetheless, at global scales, we do not know what fraction of biodiversity consists of rare species. Here, we present the largest compilation of global plant species observation data in order to quantify the fraction of Earth’s extant land plant biodiversity that is common versus rare. Tests of different hypotheses for the origin of species commonness and rarity indicates that sampling biases and prominent models such as niche theory and neutral theory cannot account for the observed prevalence of rare species. Instead, the distribution of commonness is best approximated by heavy-tailed distributions like the Pareto or Poisson-lognormal distributions. As a result, a large fraction, ~36.5% of an estimated ~435k total plant species, are exceedingly rare. We also show that rare species tend to cluster in a small number of ‘hotspots’ mainly characterized by being in tropical and subtropical mountains and areas that have experienced greater climate stability. Our results indicate that (i) non-neutral processes, likely associated with reduced risk of extinction, have maintained a large fraction of Earth’s plant species but that (ii) climate change and human impact appear to now and will disproportionately impact rare species. Together, these results point to a large fraction of Earth’s plant species are faced with increased chances of extinction. Our results indicate that global species abundance distributions have important implications for conservation planning in this era of rapid global change.

scholarly journals The commonness of rarity: Global and future distribution of rarity across land plants

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. eaaz0414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Enquist ◽  
Xiao Feng ◽  
Brad Boyle ◽  
Brian Maitner ◽  
Erica A. Newman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Conservation Planning ◽  
Rare Species ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions

A key feature of life’s diversity is that some species are common but many more are rare. Nonetheless, at global scales, we do not know what fraction of biodiversity consists of rare species. Here, we present the largest compilation of global plant diversity to quantify the fraction of Earth’s plant biodiversity that are rare. A large fraction, ~36.5% of Earth’s ~435,000 plant species, are exceedingly rare. Sampling biases and prominent models, such as neutral theory and the k-niche model, cannot account for the observed prevalence of rarity. Our results indicate that (i) climatically more stable regions have harbored rare species and hence a large fraction of Earth’s plant species via reduced extinction risk but that (ii) climate change and human land use are now disproportionately impacting rare species. Estimates of global species abundance distributions have important implications for risk assessments and conservation planning in this era of rapid global change.

Vascular plant community dynamics following hexazinone site preparation in the lower Coastal Plain

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 2216-2229 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Neal Wilkins ◽  
Wayne R. Marion ◽  
Daniel G. Neary ◽  
George W. Tanner
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Site Preparation ◽  
Herbaceous Vegetation ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions

Differential responses of vascular plant community compositions, diversities, and species-abundance distributions to hexazinone site preparation were evaluated on three 1-year-old clearcuts, each representing a point along a generalized edaphic gradient (xeric sandhill, mesic flatwoods, and hydric hammock). Foliar cover by species was sampled along four 20-m permanent line transects within each of three blocked replications of hexazinone treatments (0.0, 1.7, 3.4, and 6.8 kg/ha) at pretreatment and after the first and second growing seasons post-treatment. Cover by woody species decreased with increasing hexazinone rates on all sites (P < 0.05). Herbaceous vegetation recovered from first-season reductions to levels that did not vary with treatment (xeric sandhill and mesic flatwoods) or increased with increasing hexazinone rates (hydric hammock). Hexazinone tolerance by Gelsemiumsempervirens (L.) Ait.f. and Vaccinium spp. on the xeric sandhill and Ilexglabra (L.) Gray and G. sempervirens on the mesic flatwoods influenced diversity responses by woody and herbaceous vegetation. With increasing rates, herbaceous diversity decreased on the xeric sandhill, did not vary on the mesic flatwoods, and increased on the hydric hammock. Plant community responses to hexazinone were found to be functions of application rate, edaphic factors, adaptive strategies of resident species, and the presence or absence of hexazinone-tolerant species.

scholarly journals Species ecology explains the various spatial components of genetic diversity in tropical reef fishes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Francesca Azzurra Donati ◽  
Niklaus Zemp ◽  
Stéphanie Manel ◽  
Maude Poirier ◽  
Thomas Claverie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Western Indian Ocean ◽  
Reef Fishes ◽  
Ecological Traits ◽  
Interspecific Differences ◽  
Tropical Reef ◽  
Species Ecology

ABSTRACTIntraspecific genetic diversity should be dependent on species ecology, but the influence of ecological traits on interspecific differences in genetic variation is yet to be explored. Generating sequenced data for 20 tropical reef fish species of the Western Indian Ocean, we investigate how species ecology influences genetic diversity patterns from local to regional scales. We distinguish between the α, β and γ components of genetic diversity, which we subsequently link to six ecological traits. In contrast to what is expected by the neutral theory of molecular evolution, we find that the α and γ components of genetic diversity are negatively associated with species abundance, which can be explained by larger variance in reproductive success in large populations and/or higher introgression in less frequent species. Pelagic larval duration, an important dispersal trait in marine fishes, is found to be negatively related to genetic β diversity, as expected by theory. We conclude that the neutral theory of molecular evolution may not be sufficient to explain genetic diversity in tropical reef fishes and that additional processes influence those relationships.

scholarly journals The prevalence and impact of transient species in ecological communities

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Snell ◽  
Brian S. Evans ◽  
Ethan P. White ◽  
Allen H. Hurlbert
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Transient Species ◽  
Ecological Patterns ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions ◽  
Species Area ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

AbstractTransient species occur infrequently in a community over time and do not maintain viable local populations. Because transient species interact differently than non-transients with their biotic and abiotic environment, it is important to characterize the prevalence of these species and how they impact our understanding of ecological systems. We quantified the prevalence and impact of transient species in communities using data on over 17,000 community time series spanning an array of ecosystems, taxonomic groups, and spatial scales. We found that transient species are a general feature of communities regardless of taxa or ecosystem. The proportion of these species decreases with spatial scale leading to a need to control for scale in comparative work. Removing transient species from analyses influences the form of a suite of commonly studied ecological patterns including species-abundance distributions, species-energy relationships, species-area relationships, and temporal turnover. Careful consideration should be given to whether transient species are included in analyses depending on the theoretical and practical relevance of these species for the question being studied.

scholarly journals A general pattern of the species abundance distribution

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5928
Author(s):  
Qiang Su
Keyword(s):  
General Pattern ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Zipf’S Law ◽  
Species Abundance Distribution ◽  
Abundance Distribution ◽  
Zipf's Law ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Essential Questions ◽  
Species Abundance Distributions ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

Since the 1970s, species abundance distributions (SADs) have been one of the most fundamental issues in ecology and have frequently been investigated and reviewed. However, there was surprisingly little consensus. This study focuses on three essential questions. (1) Is there a general pattern of SAD that no community can violate it? (2) If it exists, what does it look like? (3) Why is it like this? The frequency distributions of 19,833 SADs from eight datasets (including eleven taxonomic groups from terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems) suggest that a general pattern of SAD might exist. According to two hypotheses (the finiteness of the total energy and the causality from the entropy to the diversity), this study assumes that the general pattern of SAD is approximately consistent with Zipf’s law, which means that Zipf’s law might be more easily to observe when one investigates any SAD. In the future, this conjecture not only needs to be tested (or supported) by more and more datasets, but also depends on how well it is explained from different angles of theories.

scholarly journals Macroecology suggests cancer-causing papillomaviruses form non-neutral communities

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Félez-Sánchez ◽  
Carmen Lía Murall ◽  
Ignacio G. Bravo
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Human Papillomaviruses ◽  
Chronic Infections ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTChronic infection by oncogenic Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) leads to cancers. Public health interventions, such as cancer screening and mass vaccination, radically change the ecological conditions encountered by circulating viruses. It is currently unclear how HPVs communities may respond to these environmental changes, because little is known about their ecology. Predicting the impact on viral diversity by the introduction of HPV vaccines requires answering the unresolved question of how HPVs interact. Although it is commonly believed that they do not interact (neutral theory), there are suggestions that HPV types may compete for resources or via the immune response (niche-based or non-neutral theory). Here, we applied for the first time established biodiversity measures and methods to epidemiological data in order to assess whether niche-partitioning or neutral processes are shaping HPV diversity patterns at the population level. We find that as infections progress toward cancer, HPVs communities become more uneven and a few HPVs play a stronger dominance role. By fitting species abundance distributions, we found that neutral models were always out-performed by non-neutral distributions, both in asymptomatic infections and in cancers. Our results suggest that temporally moving from a more even to a less even community implies an increase in competition, probably due to environmental changes linked to infection progression. More ecological thinking will be required to understand present-day interactions and to anticipate the future of the long lasting interactions between HPVs and humans.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTHuman papillomaviruses (HPVs) are very diverse. Infections by HPVs are very common and chronic infections may lead to cancers. The more oncogenic HPVs are now targetted by effective vaccines, and this has raised the question of whether there may be a viral replacement if these dominant types were removed. This is a medical version of a classical ecological controversy, namely how much biodiversity distributions and community dynamics are explained by neutral theory plays out across ecosystems. For HPVs, epidemiologic studies before and after the vaccination have led to the widespread belief that these viruses do not interact. Here, we apply different methods developed in macroecology to the best available epidemiologic data to address this issue. Consistently, we find that HPVs form non-neutral communities. Instead, competitive niche-partitioning process and dominance explain best HPVs communities. We also find that the vaccine might not change such competitive niche processes. Beyond clinical implications, this garners support that niche processes often best explain biodiversity patterns, even in human viral communities.

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