A mathematical synthesis of niche and neutral theories in community ecology

JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY

卷:269

Article

Haegeman, Bart¹  Loreau, Michel² 

[1] INRIA Res Team MERE, UMR MISTEA, F-34060 Montpellier, France

[2] McGill Univ, Dept Biol, Montreal, PQ H3A 1B1, Canada

关键词: Demographic stochasticity;    Immigration;    Lotka-Volterra model;    Neutral community model;    Species abundance distribution;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.10.006

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The debate between niche-based and neutral community theories centers around the question of which forces shape predominantly ecological communities. Niche theory attributes a central role to niche differences between species, which generate a difference between the strength of intra- and interspecific interactions. Neutral theory attributes a central role to migration processes and demographic stochasticity. One possibility to bridge these two theories is to combine them in a common mathematical framework. Here we propose a mathematical model that integrates the two perspectives. From a niche-based perspective, our model can be interpreted as a Lotka-Volterra model with symmetric interactions in which we introduce immigration and demographic stochasticity. From a neutral perspective, it can be interpreted as Hubbell's local community model in which we introduce a difference between intra- and interspecific interactions. We investigate the stationary species abundance distribution and other community properties as functions of the interaction coefficient, the immigration rate and the strength of demographic stochasticity. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free