The Theory of Limiting Similarity

Abrams, Peter A.

doi:10.1146/annurev.es.14.110183.002043

Cited by 489 publications

(384 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…The resulting picture was simple and intuitive: coexistence was based on ecological niche differentiation leading to reduced interspecific competition and rare advantage (Case 2000, p. 368). However, as no clear lower bound of similarity was found (Abrams 1983), further model studies blurred this simplicity. Strength of competition and niche have become terms of unclear meaning, terms to be defined separately in every specific situation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…It is a model-independent implementation of the proposal by Abrams (1983) that limits to similarity must be considered in conjunction with the relative competitiveness of the coexisting species; see also Chesson (2000b) in the same vein. The key statement of Meszéna et al is that species should differ in their way of regulation for robust coexistence; the more similar they are, the more narrow is the range of competitive parameters allowing for their coexistence.…”

Section: Reference Theory: Constant Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Krebs (2001), p. 288 andMeszéna et al (2006), we will refer to these variables as regulating factors/variables. Following the lead of May (1973), Vandermeer (1975) and Abrams (1983), Meszéna et al (2006) proved in a model-independent way that increasing similarity between the populations makes their coexistence less likely, i.e. more sensitive to the perturbation of external parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the '80s it has become a widely held opinion that the Hutchinson-MacArthur-era overestimated the relevance of competitive exclusion compared with nonequilibrium processes (Huston 1979, Begon et al 1996. On the other hand, Abrams (1983), Chesson (1991), Chesson and Huntly (1997), Chesson et al (2004) stressed that fluctuations do not alleviate the need for ecological segregation. Even in a fluctuating environment the species having the largest long-term rate of increase (calculated via proper averaging) will outcompete the others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We do this by picking up the carrying capacities K 1 and K 2 as competitive parameters (Abrams 1983), playing the role of the vector E above. All other model parameters are regarded as fixed; robustness of coexistence is considered with respect to changes of the carrying capacities.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Coexistence in a fluctuating environment by the effect of relative nonlinearity: A minimal model

Szilágyi

Meszéna

2010

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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The minimal model of the "relative nonlinearity" type fluctuation-maintained coexistence is investigated. The competing populations are affected by an environmental white noise. With quadratic density dependence, the long-term growth rates of the populations are determined by the average and the variance of the (fluctuating) total density. At most two species can coexist on these two "regulating" variables; competitive exclusion would ensue in a constant environment. A numerical study of the expected time until extinction of any of the two species reveals that the criterion of mutual invasibility predicts the parameter-range of long-term coexistence correctly in the limit of zero extinction threshold. However, any extinction threshold consistent with a realistic population size will allow only short-term coexistence. Therefore, our simulations question the biological relevance of mutual invasibility, as a sufficient condition of coexistence, for large density fluctuations. We calculate the average and the variance of the fluctuating density of the coexisting populations analytically via the moment-closure approximation; the results are reasonably close to the simulated behavior. Based on this treatment, robustness of coexistence is studied in the limit of infinite population size. We interpret the results of this analysis in the context of necessity of niche segregation with respect to the regulating variables using a framework theory published earlier.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Reference Theory: Constant Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coexistence in a fluctuating environment by the effect of relative nonlinearity: A minimal model

Szilágyi

Meszéna

2010

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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References

2016

The Giraffe

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Drivers of Acacia and Eucalyptus growth rate differ in strength and direction in restoration plantings across Australia

Staples

Mayfield

England

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Functional traits are proxies for a species' ecology and physiology and are often correlated with plant vital rates. As such they have the potential to guide species selection for restoration projects. However, predictive trait-based models often only explain a small proportion of plant performance, suggesting that commonly measured traits do not capture all important ecological differences between species. Some residual variation in vital rates may be evolutionarily conserved and captured using taxonomic groupings alongside common functional traits. We tested this hypothesis using growth rate data for 17,299 trees and shrubs from 80 species of Eucalyptus and 43 species of Acacia, two hyper-diverse and co-occurring genera, collected from 497 neighborhood plots in 137 Australian mixed-species revegetation plantings. We modeled relative growth rates of individual plants as a function of environmental conditions, species-mean functional traits, and neighbor density and diversity, across a moisture availability gradient. We then assessed whether the strength and direction of these relationships differed between the two genera. We found

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The Theory of Limiting Similarity

Cited by 489 publications

References 59 publications

Coexistence in a fluctuating environment by the effect of relative nonlinearity: A minimal model

Coexistence in a fluctuating environment by the effect of relative nonlinearity: A minimal model

References

Drivers of Acacia and Eucalyptus growth rate differ in strength and direction in restoration plantings across Australia

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