A sampling formula for ecological communities with multiple dispersal syndromes

Janzen, Thijs; Haegeman, Bart; Etienne, Rampal S.

doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.03.018

Cited by 20 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…For example, it would be interesting to see whether the neutral and non-neutral partitions of the metacommunity are physically delineated in the intestine, wherein we might expect neutral taxa to be found in the lumen while deviations from neutral patterns might be more intimately attached to the epithelial layer where interactions between host and bacterial cells may be more likely to occur. Additionally, it is possible that non-neutral behavior in these communities is driven by differences among taxa in dispersal rates, in which case partitioning the communities on the basis of differences in immigration rates would likely improve neutral predictions (Janzen et al, 2015). It might also be fruitful to compare the neutral patterns seen in healthy hosts with those seen in diseased, infected or diet-altered individuals, which we predict will be characterized by deviations from neutral predictions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Contribution of neutral processes to the assembly of gut microbial communities in the zebrafish over host development

et al. 2015

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Despite their importance to host health and development, the communities of microorganisms associated with humans and other animals are characterized by a large degree of unexplained variation across individual hosts. The processes that drive such inter-individual variation are not well understood. To address this, we surveyed the microbial communities associated with the intestine of the zebrafish, Danio rerio, over developmental time. We compared our observations of community composition and distribution across hosts with that predicted by a neutral assembly model, which assumes that community assembly is driven solely by chance and dispersal. We found that as hosts develop from larvae to adults, the fit of the model to observed microbial distributions decreases, suggesting that the relative importance of non-neutral processes, such as microbe-microbe interactions, active dispersal, or selection by the host, increases as hosts mature. We also observed that taxa which depart in their distributions from the neutral prediction form ecologically distinct subgroups, which are phylogenetically clustered with respect to the full metacommunity. These results demonstrate that neutral processes are sufficient to generate substantial variation in microbiota composition across individual hosts, and suggest that potentially unique or important taxa may be identified by their divergence from neutral distributions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Contribution of neutral processes to the assembly of gut microbial communities in the zebrafish over host development

et al. 2015

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“…They showed that the rank-abundance diagram of a community could not be used to detect heterogeneous dispersal because this pattern is already very well predicted by a purely neutral model. Janzen et al [22] showed that using seed-dispersal traits when analysing rank-abundance patterns of tree species in Barro Colorado Island could lead to the rejection of a purely neutral model in favour of an alternative hypothesis involving interspecific dispersal. Both [21] and [22] considered the effect of interspecific heterogeneity of dispersal on community structure through variation in propagule pressure: species with higher dispersal exert a stronger propagule pressure and are therefore better represented locally.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Janzen et al [22] showed that using seed-dispersal traits when analysing rank-abundance patterns of tree species in Barro Colorado Island could lead to the rejection of a purely neutral model in favour of an alternative hypothesis involving interspecific dispersal. Both [21] and [22] considered the effect of interspecific heterogeneity of dispersal on community structure through variation in propagule pressure: species with higher dispersal exert a stronger propagule pressure and are therefore better represented locally. However, in such models, dispersal does not trade-off with local competitive ability (assumed to be identical among species): species with higher dispersal always thrive in all communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The conditions for regional coexistence are unfortunately not considered in these studies which focus on species diversity within communities. Introducing a metacommunity structure in which species can coexist within local communities and a competition-dispersal tradeoff in models such as those of [21,22] should allow the study of conditions for the regional coexistence of dispersal strategies as a result of a trade-off with local competition; which is the focus of our study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The evolution of the competition–dispersal trade-off affects α- and β-diversity in a heterogeneous metacommunity

et al. 2016

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Difference in dispersal ability is a key driver of species coexistence in metacommunities. However, the available frameworks for interpreting species diversity patterns in natura often overlook trade-offs and evolutionary constraints associated with dispersal. Here, we build a metacommunity model accounting for dispersal evolution and a competition-dispersal trade-off. Depending on the distribution of carrying capacities among communities, species dispersal values are distributed either around a single strategy (evolutionarily stable strategy, ESS), or around distinct strategies (evolutionary branching, EB). We show that limited dispersal generates spatial aggregation of dispersal traits in ESS and EB scenarios, and that the competition-dispersal trade-off strengthens the pattern in the EB scenario. Importantly, individuals in larger (respectively (resp.) smaller) communities tend to harbour lower (resp. higher) dispersal, especially under the EB scenario. We explore how dispersal evolution affects species diversity patterns by comparing those from our model to the predictions of a neutral metacommunity model. The most marked difference is detected under EB, with distinctive values of both aand b-diversity (e.g. the dissimilarity in species composition between small and large communities was significantly larger than neutral predictions). We conclude that, from an empirical perspective, jointly assessing community carrying capacity with species dispersal strategies should improve our understanding of diversity patterns in metacommunities.

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“…Understanding the dynamics of a guild of ecologically different or equivalent species occupying some functional position within a food web is therefore essential to understanding overall community dynamics. However, what it means for species to be ecologically different in the light of both interactions with species outside the guild and interactions among guild members, makes this a much more complicated proposition (Haegeman & Etienne, ; Janzen et al, ). We argue that working through this fracas requires a shift towards focusing on mechanisms (Letten, Ke, & Fukami, ; McPeek, ; Tilman, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling ecologically equivalent from neutral species: The mechanisms of population regulation matter

McPeek

Siepielski

2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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The neutral theory of biodiversity explored the structure of a community of ecologically equivalent species. Such species are expected to display community drift dynamics analogous to neutral alleles undergoing genetic drift. While entire communities of species are not ecologically equivalent, recent field experiments have documented the existence of guilds of such neutral species embedded in real food webs. What demographic outcomes of the interactions within and between species in these guilds are expected to produce ecological drift versus coexistence remains unclear. To address this issue, and guide empirical testing, we consider models of a guild of ecologically equivalent competitors feeding on a single resource to explore when community drift should manifest. We show that community drift dynamics only emerge when the density‐dependent effects of each species on itself are identical to its density‐dependent effects on every other guild member. In contrast, if each guild member directly limits itself more than it limits the abundance of other guild members, all species in the guild are coexisting, even though they all are ecologically equivalent with respect to their interactions with species outside the guild (i.e. resources, predators, mutualists). Hence, considering only interspecific ecological differences generating density dependence, and not fully accounting for the preponderance of mechanisms causing intraspecific density dependence, will provide an incomplete picture for segregating between neutrality and coexistence. We also identify critical experiments necessary to disentangle guilds of ecologically equivalent species from those experiencing ecological drift, as well as provide an overview of ways of incorporating a mechanistic basis into studies of species coexistence and neutrality. Identifying these characteristics, and the mechanistic basis underlying community structure, is not merely an exercise in clarifying the semantics of coexistence and neutral theories, but rather reflects key differences that must exist among community members in order to determine how and why communities are structured.

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A sampling formula for ecological communities with multiple dispersal syndromes

Cited by 20 publications

References 48 publications

Contribution of neutral processes to the assembly of gut microbial communities in the zebrafish over host development

Contribution of neutral processes to the assembly of gut microbial communities in the zebrafish over host development

The evolution of the competition–dispersal trade-off affects α- and β-diversity in a heterogeneous metacommunity

Disentangling ecologically equivalent from neutral species: The mechanisms of population regulation matter

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