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Patterns of relative species abundance in rainforests and coral reefs

Author

Listed:
  • Igor Volkov

    (104 Davey Laboratory
    Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA)

  • Jayanth R. Banavar

    (104 Davey Laboratory)

  • Stephen P. Hubbell

    (The University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
    The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Unit 0948)

  • Amos Maritan

    (Università di Padova CNISM and INFN, via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy)

Abstract

A formidable many-body problem in ecology is to understand the complex of factors controlling patterns of relative species abundance (RSA) in communities of interacting species. Unlike many problems in physics, the nature of the interactions in ecological communities is not completely known. Although most contemporary theories in ecology start with the basic premise that species interact, here we show that a theory in which all interspecific interactions are turned off leads to analytical results that are in agreement with RSA data from tropical forests and coral reefs. The assumption of non-interacting species leads to a sampling theory for the RSA that yields a simple approximation at large scales to the exact theory. Our results show that one can make significant theoretical progress in ecology by assuming that the effective interactions among species are weak in the stationary states in species-rich communities such as tropical forests and coral reefs.

Suggested Citation

  • Igor Volkov & Jayanth R. Banavar & Stephen P. Hubbell & Amos Maritan, 2007. "Patterns of relative species abundance in rainforests and coral reefs," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7166), pages 45-49, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:450:y:2007:i:7166:d:10.1038_nature06197
    DOI: 10.1038/nature06197
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    Cited by:

    1. Menezes, J. & Moura, B., 2022. "Pattern formation and coarsening dynamics in apparent competition models," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    2. Chen, Youhua, 2016. "Local speciation can be incorporated into neutral theory of biodiversity," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 325(C), pages 67-70.
    3. Christopher R Stephens & Joaquín Giménez Heau & Camila González & Carlos N Ibarra-Cerdeña & Victor Sánchez-Cordero & Constantino González-Salazar, 2009. "Using Biotic Interaction Networks for Prediction in Biodiversity and Emerging Diseases," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(5), pages 1-9, May.
    4. Menezes, J. & Barbalho, R., 2023. "How multiple weak species jeopardise biodiversity in spatial rock–paper–scissors models," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    5. Lena Takayasu & Wataru Suda & Eiichiro Watanabe & Shinji Fukuda & Kageyasu Takanashi & Hiroshi Ohno & Misako Takayasu & Hideki Takayasu & Masahira Hattori, 2017. "A 3-dimensional mathematical model of microbial proliferation that generates the characteristic cumulative relative abundance distributions in gut microbiomes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-20, August.
    6. Fung, Tak & Chisholm, Ryan A., 2023. "Improving the realism of neutral ecological models by incorporating transient dynamics with temporal changes in community size," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 12-26.
    7. Claudia Sala & Enrico Giampieri & Silvia Vitali & Paolo Garagnani & Daniel Remondini & Armando Bazzani & Claudio Franceschi & Gastone C Castellani, 2020. "Gut microbiota ecology: Biodiversity estimated from hybrid neutral-niche model increases with health status and aging," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(10), pages 1-23, October.
    8. Beeravolu, Champak R. & Couteron, Pierre & Pélissier, Raphaël & Munoz, François, 2009. "Studying ecological communities from a neutral standpoint: A review of models’ structure and parameter estimation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(20), pages 2603-2610.
    9. Omar Al Hammal & David Alonso & Rampal S Etienne & Stephen J Cornell, 2015. "When Can Species Abundance Data Reveal Non-neutrality?," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, March.
    10. Liao, Jinbao & Li, Zhenqing & Quets, Jan J. & Nijs, Ivan, 2013. "Effects of space partitioning in a plant species diversity model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 271-278.
    11. Tenorio, M. & Rangel, E. & Menezes, J., 2022. "Adaptive movement strategy in rock-paper-scissors models," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    12. Ai, Dexiecuo & Chu, Chengjin & Ellwood, M.D. Farnon & Hou, Rui & Wang, Gang, 2013. "Migration and niche partitioning simultaneously increase species richness and rarity," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 258(C), pages 33-39.

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