NDLI: Niche and neutral models predict asymptotically equivalent species abundance distributions in high-diversity ecological communities

Content Provider	PubMed Central
Author	Chisholm, Ryan A. Pacala, Stephen W.
Abstract	A fundamental challenge in ecology is to understand the mechanisms that govern patterns of relative species abundance. Previous numerical simulations have suggested that complex niche-structured models produce species abundance distributions (SADs) that are qualitatively similar to those of very simple neutral models that ignore differences between species. However, in the absence of an analytical treatment of niche models, one cannot tell whether the two classes of model produce the same patterns via similar or different mechanisms. We present an analytical proof that, in the limit as diversity becomes large, a strong niche model give rises to exactly the same asymptotic form of SAD as the neutral model, and we verify the analytical predictions for a Panamanian tropical forest data set. Our results strongly suggest that neutral processes drive patterns of relative species abundance in high-diversity ecological communities, even when strong niche structure exists. However, neutral theory cannot explain what generates high diversity in the first place, and it may not be valid in low-diversity communities. Our results also confirm that neutral theory cannot be used to infer an absence of niche structure or to explain ecosystem function.
Related Links	http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1009387107
Ending Page	15825
Page Count	5
Starting Page	15821
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00278424
e-ISSN	10916490
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Issue Number	36
Volume Number	107
Language	English
Publisher	National Academy of Sciences
Publisher Date	2010-09-07
Access Restriction	Open
Rights Holder	National Academy of Sciences
Subject Keyword	General Research in Higher Education
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Multidisciplinary

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Korarchaeota Diversity, Biogeography, and Abundance in Yellowstone and Great Basin Hot Springs and Ecological Niche Modeling Based on Machine Learning

Comments about some species abundance patterns: classic, neutral, and niche partitioning models

The effect of niche filtering on plant species abundance in temperate grassland communities (Dataset)

Ecological niche structure and rangewide abundance patterns of species

Area–heterogeneity tradeoff and the diversity of ecological communities

How Do Biological and Functional Diversity Change in Invaded Tropical Marine Rocky Reef Communities?

Ecology and the ratchet of events: Climate variability, niche dimensions, and species distributions

The effects of intraspecific density dependence on species richness and species abundance distributions

Species Abundance Distributions Patterns between Tiankeng Forests and Nearby Non-Tiankeng Forests in Southwest China

Niche and neutral models predict asymptotically equivalent species abundance distributions in high-diversity ecological communities

Similar Documents

Korarchaeota Diversity, Biogeography, and Abundance in Yellowstone and Great Basin Hot Springs and Ecological Niche Modeling Based on Machine Learning

Comments about some species abundance patterns: classic, neutral, and niche partitioning models

The effect of niche filtering on plant species abundance in temperate grassland communities (Dataset)

Ecological niche structure and rangewide abundance patterns of species

Area–heterogeneity tradeoff and the diversity of ecological communities

How Do Biological and Functional Diversity Change in Invaded Tropical Marine Rocky Reef Communities?

Ecology and the ratchet of events: Climate variability, niche dimensions, and species distributions

The effects of intraspecific density dependence on species richness and species abundance distributions

Species Abundance Distributions Patterns between Tiankeng Forests and Nearby Non-Tiankeng Forests in Southwest China

Niche and neutral models predict asymptotically equivalent species abundance distributions in high-diversity ecological communities