Beyond the continuum: a multi-dimensional phase space for neutral-niche community assembly.

ABSTRACT: Neutral and niche processes are generally considered to interact in natural communities along a continuum, exhibiting community patterns bounded by pure neutral and pure niche processes. The continuum concept uses niche separation, an attribute of the community, to test the hypothesis that communities are bounded by pure niche or pure neutral conditions. It does not accommodate interactions via feedback between processes and the environment. By contrast, we introduce the Community Assembly Phase Space (CAPS), a multi-dimensional space that uses community processes (such as dispersal and niche selection) to define the limiting neutral and niche conditions and to test the continuum hypothesis. We compare the outputs of modelled communities in a heterogeneous landscape, assembled by pure neut

SUBMITTER: Latombe G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4707763 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature