Energetic Constraints on Species Coexistence in Birds.

ABSTRACT: The association between species richness and ecosystem energy availability is one of the major geographic trends in biodiversity. It is often explained in terms of energetic constraints, such that coexistence among competing species is limited in low productivity environments. However, it has proven challenging to reject alternative views, including the null hypothesis that species richness has simply had more time to accumulate in productive regions, and thus the role of energetic constraints in limiting coexistence remains largely unknown. We use the phylogenetic relationships and geographic ranges of sister species (pairs of lineages who are each other's closest extant relatives) to examine the association between energy availability and coexistence across an entire vertebrate class (Av

SUBMITTER: Pigot AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4790906 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature