There has been an ongoing controversy over how to decide whether the distribution of species is "random" - i.e., whether it is not greatly different from what it would be if species did not interact. We recently showed (Roberts and Stone (1990)) that in the case of the Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) avifauna, the number of islands shared by species pairs was incompatible with a "random" null hypothesis. However, it was difficult to determine the causes or direction of the community's exceptionality. In this paper, the latter problem is examined further. We use Diamond's (1975) notion of checkerboard distributions (originally developed as an indicator of competition) and construct a C-score statistic which quantifies "checkerboardedness". This statistic is based on the way two species might colonise a pair of islands; whenever each species colonises a different island this adds 1 to the C-score. Following Connor and Simberloff (1979) we generate a "control group" of random colonisation patterns (matrices), and use the C-score to determine their checkerboard characteristics. As an alternative mode of enquiry, we make slight alterations to the observed data, repeating this process many times so as to obtain another "control group". In both cases, when we compare the observed data for the Vanuatu avifauna and the Antillean bat communities with that given by their respective "control group", we find that these communities have significantly large checkerboard distributions, making implausible the hypothesis that their species distributions are a product of random colonisation.

No abstract

No abstract

There is a long-standing dispute over whether the analysis of species co-occurrence data, typically on islands in an archipelago, can disclose the forces at work in structuring a community. Here we present and utilise three "scores" S, C and T. S gives the mean number of islands shared by a species pair in the presence/absence data under study. The scores C and T are based on the way that a pair of species occurs on a pair of islands. When each species occurs on a different island, this adds to the "checkerboard score" C; if they occupy the same island, this increases the "togetherness score" T.In judging whether observed values of S, C and T are compatible with a null hypothesis assuming no species interaction, we follow Connor and Simberloff (1979) in generating a "control group" of (constrained) simulated incidence patterns.Presence/absence matrices can have paradoxical features, in combining a high mutual exclusion by species (checkerboardedness) with a degree of species aggregation that is also high. We show that this is in fact inevitable - that, given the usual contraints, C and T can differ only by a constant. This means that extreme checkerboardedness can be produced by forces making for species aggregation, just as well as by those making for avoidance.If we restrict our attention to a subset of species, the constraints are less rigid and the S, C and T scores are somewhat freer to vary. We consider the confamilial subsets in the Vanuatu archipelago as likely candidates for revealing any competition forces at work. Calculating the actual S, C and T scores for these subsets, we compare them with the corresponding scores in a sample of simulated colonization patterns.The actual species-distributions differ significantly from what we would expect if the colonization choices of different species were uncorrelated (save for some biological constraints). The confamilial species of the real world share more islands, and occur in a pattern less checkerboarded, and more aggregated, than their simulation counterparts. This suggests that competition pressures, if they exist, are overcome by countervailing factors.The method used is applicable in other ways, and to a wider class of problems, in analysing the forces behind community structure.

No abstract

Shoot tips of the diploid rose Thérèse Bugnet were treated in vitro to oryzalin at concentrations of 5 and 15 microM. Tetraploid shoots were obtained in highest frequencies (40%) after exposure to 5 microM oryzalin for 14 days. Thin (1 mm) nodal sections were treated with 5 microM oryzalin and the highest frequency of tetraploids (66%) was obtained after exposure for only 1 day. The shorter exposure times required to induce chromosome doubling in thin nodal sections is attributed to the more efficient delivery of oryzalin to the meristem. Tetraploids were obtained from four diploid roses and hexaploids from two triploid roses. Chromosome doubling was accompanied by increases in thickness and a darker green colouration of the leaves and, in all diploid to tetraploid and one triploid to hexaploid conversion, the breadth/length ratio of leaflets was significantly increased. Internodes were longer in tetraploids than diploids but significantly shorter in hexaploids than triploids. The number of petals per flower in the tetraploid form of Thérèse Bugnet was double that of the diploid. Significant increases in pollen viability accompanied chromosome doubling of all four diploids and one of the two triploids.

The interaction between two species is usually assigned as though they were in isolation from all other species. Here we use a (known) method that determines species interactions more realistically, within the framework of the community to which they belong. This "inverse" method evaluates all the effects that one species experiences from another, both direct and indirect. We use this method to study the classical (though highly controversial) "competition community," where each species is considered (in the "isolated pair" approach) to suffer from the presence of every other. The model we use takes account of the fluctuations in interaction coefficients that one must expect in the real world, both from one species pair to another, and as the effect of ambient environmental variations. Remarkably, the "inverse" method finds that generally a high proportion (20—40%) of the interactions must be beneficial, or "advantageous," when not lifted out of the community context in which they actually occur. The contrary case, called here "hypercompetitive," in which each species suffers from every other species, can occur only if the environment is nearly constant, and the species closely akin to each other, with both of these conditions holding and persisting to a degree that must be considered implausible. The results of the model remain valid, even after incorporating a number of major structural modifications, thus indicating robustness in the predictions. We survey the available field data and show that they are in good general agreement with the conclusions reached, on the high proportion of interactions which must be "Advantageous in a Community Context" (ACC).

Chromosome doubling was induced in vitro in a diploid hybrid of Rosa rugosa Thunb. using oryzalin as the spindle inhibitor. Nodal sections, 2 mm long, were exposed to 2.5 or 5 microM oryzalin and 10 mm nodal sections were exposed to 5 microM oryzalin for 0 (controls), 6, 12, 24 and 48 h. The ploidy of the emergent shoots was determined by flow cytometry. The frequency of tetraploid and mixoploid leaves that developed from 2 mm nodal sections exposed to 5 microM oryzalin peaked at 12 h exposure, when 35% of the leaves were tetraploid, but fell after longer exposures. Fewer tetraploid and mixoploid leaves were found when 2 mm nodes were exposed to 2.5 microM oryzalin for 6 and 12 h, indicating that it took longer for a spindle inhibiting concentration of oryzalin to build up in the meristem. However, the frequencies of tetraploid and mixoploid leaves continued to rise after 12 h and were highest at 48 h, when 44% were tetraploid. In treatments with 5 microM oryzalin, the frequencies of tetraploid and mixoploid leaves were lower, at equivalent exposure times, in 10 mm nodes than 2 mm nodes. This suggests that oryzalin diffused to the meristem mainly via the cut surfaces and that access via the epidermis and cuticle was impeded.