Article
Agronomy
Ying Pan, Duanyang Yuan, Qihang Wu, Ling Jin, Mingli Xie, Yang Gu, Changqun Duan
Summary: The study revealed that water exchange rate affects the competition outcomes of submerged macrophyte species, with the relative competitive ability of each species being more strongly correlated to competition-trait hierarchy rather than competition-trait similarity.
Review
Ecology
Miguel Gomez-Llano, Rachel M. Germain, Daisuke Kyogoku, Mark A. McPeek, Adam M. Siepielski
Summary: Recent research has shown that ecologically equivalent species can coexist under the regulation of reproductive interactions and sexual selection. Reproductive interactions play a significant role in maintaining species diversity, as highlighted by theoretical models and empirical studies. This neglected pathway towards explaining species diversity offers new insights and future research directions within the conceptual framework of coexistence theory.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications
Lev Kalmykov, Vyacheslav L. Kalmykov
Summary: The study tested the ecological hypotheses of 'limiting similarity' and 'limiting dissimilarity', and the results supported the hypothesis of limiting dissimilarity. This has implications for evolution theory and ecological sustainability.
CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALS
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Mark K. L. Wong, Toby P. N. Tsang, Owen T. Lewis, Benoit Guenard
Summary: The study shows that in a tropical assemblage, the spatial associations between invasive and native ant species can be largely explained by the interaction of trait-similarity and trait-hierarchy.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chang-Yu Chang, Djordje Bajic, Jean C. C. Vila, Sylvie Estrela, Alvaro Sanchez
Summary: Understanding the mechanisms of maintaining microbial biodiversity is crucial in ecology. Past research on microbial coexistence mainly focused on species pairs, leaving unclear whether pairwise coexistence is necessary for coexistence in a multi-species community. Through hundreds of pairwise competition experiments, we found that competitive exclusion was the most common outcome, indicating that multispecies coexistence is an emergent phenomenon that depends on community context rather than pairwise interactions.
Article
Plant Sciences
Qin Li, Ji Wang, Ryan Fuller, Yaowu Xing, Jianquan Liu, Richard H. Ree
Summary: This study on Rhododendron species in a nature reserve in the eastern Hengduan Mountains, China, found that species tend to be spatially aggregated and more similar at higher elevations. Environmental variables were strong predictors of species' ranges. Although no evidence of niche differentiation was detected along spatial or morphological axes, significant phenological divergence was observed among co-occurring species along the temporal axis, which was less phylogenetically conserved compared to morphological traits.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Andree Cappellari, Giovanna Bonaldi, Maurizio Mei, Dino Paniccia, Pierfilippo Cerretti, Lorenzo Marini
Summary: Managed and wild pollinators coexist in different ecosystems. This study investigated the interactions between plants and pollinators in 51 grasslands and found that honeybee abundance, temperature, plant functional diversity, and trait similarity between wild pollinators and the honeybee influence resource overlap between them. Resource overlap decreases with increasing honeybee abundance, but only in plant communities with high functional diversity. Resource overlap increases with increasing trait similarity between wild pollinators and the honeybee.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Theo Gibbs, Simon A. Levin, Jonathan M. Levine
Summary: Most ecological models assume that interactions in a community occur only between pairs of species. However, our research shows that two species can interactively affect the growth of a focal species, known as higher-order interactions. We analytically predict and numerically confirm that the variability and strength of these higher-order interactions impact species coexistence in diverse communities. We found that as the variability of higher-order interaction strengths increases, fewer species can coexist. Additionally, if these interactions become too harmful or too weak, coexistence is destabilized. Furthermore, our research demonstrates that species-rich communities structured by higher-order interactions are more prone to species loss compared to species-poor communities.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biology
Mark K. L. Wong, Roger H. Lee, Chi-Man Leong, Owen T. Lewis, Benoit Guenard
Summary: The differences in species' traits can reflect their competitive abilities instead of their niches, which is crucial in inferring processes of biological invasions. This study demonstrates that both the similarity or dissimilarity of traits between invaders and residents, as well as trait-mediated hierarchical competition, can explain invasions by fire ants on ant assemblages.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stuart L. Pimm, Jared Diamond, K. David Bishop
Summary: The distribution of fruit pigeons on the island of New Guinea is influenced by geographical accessibility. The coexistence of species in a particular year and location is a nonrandom selection process. The sizes of these species are more widely spread and evenly spaced compared to random sets of species. Additionally, the local status of a highly mobile species decreases as other resident species become more closely related.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Erica M. Holdridge, David A. Vasseur
Summary: Intraspecific variation plays a crucial role in coexistence in diverse communities, expanding the range of conditions under which coexistence can occur and strengthening coexistence mechanisms.
THEORETICAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Mark K. L. Wong, Carlos P. Carmona
Summary: Assessing functional diversity in plant and ant communities reveals that including trait variability at different scales can significantly impact the calculated values and patterns observed, potentially leading to errors in inferences about ecological processes. Incorporating intraspecific trait variability through probabilistic methods is recommended to more accurately capture functional diversity.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Christopher A. Johnson
Summary: Mutualisms are important in maintaining biodiversity, but are not currently included in existing coexistence theory, leading to potential errors in assessing how mutualisms affect the coexistence of competing species. The author develops a theory predicting how multitrophic mutualisms mediate species coexistence and demonstrates the importance of considering mutualisms in evaluating coexistence consequences.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mary N. Van Dyke, Jonathan M. Levine, Nathan J. B. Kraft
Summary: This study investigates the impact of changing precipitation on competitive dynamics between species in a California grassland community. The results demonstrate that reduced precipitation alters the outcome of species competition, particularly for functionally diverse communities. Thus, considering changes in species interactions is crucial when predicting species and community responses to global change.
Review
Zoology
Zhilin LI, Jiayu Lu, Xiaoyi Shi, Li'an Duo, James L. D. Smith, Tianming Wang
Summary: Research shows that elevation and ungulate density are important factors influencing the coexistence mechanisms of tigers and leopards. Increased elevation leads to higher spatial niche overlap of tigers and leopards, while prey-rich regions result in higher dietary overlap. Furthermore, interference competition between the two carnivores is less observed in habitats with dense tree cover and homogeneous vegetation structures. Policymakers and managers should focus on elevation, prey abundance, and habitat structures for the conservation of tigers and leopards.
INTEGRATIVE ZOOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Rafael D'Andrea, Annette Ostling
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2016)
Article
Ecology
Gyoergy Barabas, Rafael D'Andrea
Article
Ecology
Rafael D'Andrea, Annette Ostling
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rafael D'Andrea, James P. O'Dwyer
Article
Ecology
Rafael D'Andrea, James P. O'Dwyer
THEORETICAL ECOLOGY
(2017)
Review
Ecology
Gyoergy Barabas, Rafael D'Andrea, Simon Maccracken Stump
ECOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
(2018)
Article
Ecology
Rosalyn C. Rael, Rafael D'Andrea, Gyorgy Barabas, Annette Ostling
Article
Ecology
Rafael D'Andrea, Annette Ostling, James P. O'Dwyer
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Rafael D'Andrea, Maria Riolo, Annette M. Ostling
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Rafael D'Andrea, John Guittar, James P. O'Dwyer, Hector Figueroa, S. J. Wright, Richard Condit, Annette Ostling
Editorial Material
Ecology
Gyorgy Barabas, Rafael D'Andrea
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Rafael D'Andrea, Theo Gibbs, James P. O'Dwyer
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Plant Sciences
Rafael D'Andrea, James P. O'Dwyer
Summary: Life-history trade-offs, specifically between seed quality and seed output, play a crucial role in explaining coexistence among species in plant communities under varying local stresses. Coexistence is higher in patchy landscapes when dispersal scales are shorter than the scales of environmental variation, aiding in niche separation and avoidance of interspecific competition. Additionally, species with a clear distinction in tolerance levels towards environmental stress and high overall seed output are more likely to coexist, highlighting the importance of spatial structure and dispersal limitation in promoting diversity.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Athmanathan Senthilnathan, Rafael D'Andrea
Summary: Interactions between plants and soil play a crucial role in shaping plant community structure and spatial distribution. While traditionally considered as one-directional, recent studies have shown that plants can actively modify soil conditions through their roots and interactions with soil microbes, leading to bidirectional plant-soil feedbacks. To understand how these feedbacks influence community dynamics, researchers have developed a mathematical model that incorporates soil conditioning over time and analyzes the long-term composition and spatial patterns of plant communities. The model reveals that positive plant-soil feedbacks result in clustering of species with similar soil preferences, and the composition of these clusters is further influenced by niche width and conditioning strength.
Article
Ecology
Rafael D'Andrea, Annette Ostling