Identifying models of trait-mediated community assembly using random forests and approximate Bayesian computation.

ABSTRACT: Ecologists often use dispersion metrics and statistical hypothesis testing to infer processes of community formation such as environmental filtering, competitive exclusion, and neutral species assembly. These metrics have limited power in inferring assembly models because they rely on often-violated assumptions. Here, we adapt a model of phenotypic similarity and repulsion to simulate the process of community assembly via environmental filtering and competitive exclusion, all while parameterizing the strength of the respective ecological processes. We then use random forests and approximate Bayesian computation to distinguish between these models given the simulated data. We find that our approach is more accurate than using dispersion metrics and accounts for uncertainty in model selectio

SUBMITTER: Ruffley M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6912896 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature