Microhabitat locality allows multi-species coexistence in terrestrial plant communities.

ABSTRACT: Most terrestrial plant communities exhibit relatively high species diversity and many competitive species are ubiquitous. Many theoretical studies have been carried out to investigate the coexistence of a few competitive species and in most cases they suggest competitive exclusion. Theoretical studies have revealed that coexistence of even three or four species can be extremely difficult. It has been suggested that the coexistence of many species has been achieved by the fine differences in suitable microhabitats for each species, attributing to niche-separation. So far there is no explicit demonstration of such a coexistence in mathematical and simulation studies. Here we built a simple lattice Lotka-Volterra model of competition by incorporating the minute differences of suitable microha

SUBMITTER: Tubay JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4613359 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature