Abstract
The recurrent patterns in the commonness and rarity of species in ecological communities—the relative species abundance—have puzzled ecologists for more than half a century1,2. Here we show that the framework of the current neutral theory in ecology3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 can easily be generalized to incorporate symmetric density dependence11,12,13,14. We can calculate precisely the strength of the rare-species advantage that is needed to explain a given RSA distribution. Previously, we demonstrated that a mechanism of dispersal limitation also fits RSA data well3,4. Here we compare fits of the dispersal and density-dependence mechanisms for empirical RSA data on tree species in six New and Old World tropical forests and show that both mechanisms offer sufficient and independent explanations. We suggest that RSA data cannot by themselves be used to discriminate among these explanations of RSA patterns15—empirical studies will be required to determine whether RSA patterns are due to one or the other mechanism, or to some combination of both.
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Acknowledgements
We are indebted to D. Alonso and P. Chesson for advice. We gratefully acknowledge the work of the principal investigators and their field assistants for collecting the field data on the large plots of tropical forest. Specifically, we thank D. Thomas, G. Chuyong and D. Kenfack for the data from Korup National Park, Cameroon; R. Valencia, R. Foster and R. Condit for the data from Yasuni National Park, Ecuador; S. Davies, S. Tan, J. LaFrankie and P. Ashton for the data from Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak; M. N. Supardi, P. Ashton and J. LaFrankie for the data from Pasoh Forest Reserve, peninsular Malaysia; and S.P.H.'s collaborators on the Barro Colorado Island plot, R. Foster and R. Condit. We also thank E. Losos for directing and coordinating the global programmes of the Center for Tropical Forest Science, which manages the plots, S. Loo for data management, and I. Rubinoff. This work was supported by NASA, by the NSF and the NSERC (Canada). The fieldwork has also received long-term support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, Earthwatch, Frank Levinson and the Celera Foundation, and other private foundations and individual donors.
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Volkov, I., Banavar, J., He, F. et al. Density dependence explains tree species abundance and diversity in tropical forests. Nature 438, 658–661 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04030
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04030
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