Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2014.1657
Title (Primary) Moving beyond abundance distributions: neutral theory and spatial patterns in a tropical forest
Author May, F.; Huth, A.; Wiegand, T.
Source Titel Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences
Year 2015
Department OESA
Volume 282
Issue 1802
Page From art. 20141657
Language englisch
Keywords beta-diversity, distance decay, pattern-oriented modelling, point-pattern analysis, spatially explicit neutral model, species–area relationship
UFZ wide themes RU5;
Abstract Assessing the relative importance of different processes that determine the spatial distribution of species and the dynamics in highly diverse plant communities remains a challenging question in ecology. Previous modelling approaches often focused on single aggregated forest diversity patterns that convey limited information on the underlying dynamic processes. Here, we use recent advances in inference for stochastic simulation models to evaluate the ability of a spatially explicit and spatially continuous neutral model to quantitatively predict six spatial and non-spatial patterns observed at the 50 ha tropical forest plot on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The patterns capture different aspects of forest dynamics and biodiversity structure, such as annual mortality rate, species richness, species abundance distribution, beta-diversity and the species–area relationship (SAR). The model correctly predicted each pattern independently and up to five patterns simultaneously. However, the model was unable to match the SAR and beta-diversity simultaneously. Our study moves previous theory towards a dynamic spatial theory of biodiversity and demonstrates the value of spatial data to identify ecological processes. This opens up new avenues to evaluate the consequences of additional process for community assembly and dynamics.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=15709
May, F., Huth, A., Wiegand, T. (2015):
Moving beyond abundance distributions: neutral theory and spatial patterns in a tropical forest
Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci. 282 (1802), art. 20141657 10.1098/rspb.2014.1657