Robert E Ricklefs1. 1. Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, One University Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63121-4499, USA ricklefs@umsl.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Ecologists broadly accept that the number of species present within a region balances regional processes of immigration and speciation against competitive and other interactions between populations that limit distribution and constrain diversity. Although ecological theory has, for a long time, addressed the premise that ecological space can be filled to 'capacity' with species, only with the availability of time-calibrated phylogenies has it been possible to test the hypothesis that diversification slows as the number of species in a region increases. Focusing on the deciduous trees of eastern North America, this study tested predictions from competition theory concerning the distribution and abundance of species. METHODS: Local assemblages of trees tabulated in a previous study published in 1950 were analysed. Assemblages were ordinated with respect to species composition by non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS). Distributions of trees were analysed by taxonomically nested analysis of variance, discriminant analysis based on NMS scores, and canonical correlation analysis of NMS scores and Bioclim climate variables. KEY RESULTS: Most of the variance in species abundance and distribution was concentrated among closely related (i.e. congeneric) species, indicating evolutionary lability. Species distribution and abundance were unrelated to the number of close relatives, suggesting that competitive effects are diffuse. Distances between pairs of congeneric species in NMS space did not differ significantly from distances between more distantly related species, in contrast to the predictions of both competitive habitat partitioning and ecological sorting of species. CONCLUSIONS: Eastern deciduous forests of North America do not appear to be saturated with species. The distributions and abundances of individual species provide little evidence of being shaped by competition from related (i.e. ecologically similar) species and, by inference, that diversification is constrained by interspecific competition.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Ecologists broadly accept that the number of species present within a region balances regional processes of immigration and speciation against competitive and other interactions between populations that limit distribution and constrain diversity. Although ecological theory has, for a long time, addressed the premise that ecological space can be filled to 'capacity' with species, only with the availability of time-calibrated phylogenies has it been possible to test the hypothesis that diversification slows as the number of species in a region increases. Focusing on the deciduous trees of eastern North America, this study tested predictions from competition theory concerning the distribution and abundance of species. METHODS: Local assemblages of trees tabulated in a previous study published in 1950 were analysed. Assemblages were ordinated with respect to species composition by non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS). Distributions of trees were analysed by taxonomically nested analysis of variance, discriminant analysis based on NMS scores, and canonical correlation analysis of NMS scores and Bioclim climate variables. KEY RESULTS: Most of the variance in species abundance and distribution was concentrated among closely related (i.e. congeneric) species, indicating evolutionary lability. Species distribution and abundance were unrelated to the number of close relatives, suggesting that competitive effects are diffuse. Distances between pairs of congeneric species in NMS space did not differ significantly from distances between more distantly related species, in contrast to the predictions of both competitive habitat partitioning and ecological sorting of species. CONCLUSIONS: Eastern deciduous forests of North America do not appear to be saturated with species. The distributions and abundances of individual species provide little evidence of being shaped by competition from related (i.e. ecologically similar) species and, by inference, that diversification is constrained by interspecific competition.
Authors: Domingos Cardoso; Tiina Särkinen; Sara Alexander; André M Amorim; Volker Bittrich; Marcela Celis; Douglas C Daly; Pedro Fiaschi; Vicki A Funk; Leandro L Giacomin; Renato Goldenberg; Gustavo Heiden; João Iganci; Carol L Kelloff; Sandra Knapp; Haroldo Cavalcante de Lima; Anderson F P Machado; Rubens Manoel Dos Santos; Renato Mello-Silva; Fabián A Michelangeli; John Mitchell; Peter Moonlight; Pedro Luís Rodrigues de Moraes; Scott A Mori; Teonildes Sacramento Nunes; Terry D Pennington; José Rubens Pirani; Ghillean T Prance; Luciano Paganucci de Queiroz; Alessandro Rapini; Ricarda Riina; Carlos Alberto Vargas Rincon; Nádia Roque; Gustavo Shimizu; Marcos Sobral; João Renato Stehmann; Warren D Stevens; Charlotte M Taylor; Marcelo Trovó; Cássio van den Berg; Henk van der Werff; Pedro Lage Viana; Charles E Zartman; Rafaela Campostrini Forzza Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Date: 2017-09-18 Impact factor: 11.205
Authors: Hans Ter Steege; Rens W Vaessen; Dairon Cárdenas-López; Daniel Sabatier; Alexandre Antonelli; Sylvia Mota de Oliveira; Nigel C A Pitman; Peter Møller Jørgensen; Rafael P Salomão Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2016-07-13 Impact factor: 4.379
Authors: Hans Ter Steege; Paulo I Prado; Renato A F de Lima; Edwin Pos; Luiz de Souza Coelho; Diogenes de Andrade Lima Filho; Rafael P Salomão; Iêda Leão Amaral; Francisca Dionízia de Almeida Matos; Carolina V Castilho; Oliver L Phillips; Juan Ernesto Guevara; Marcelo de Jesus Veiga Carim; Dairon Cárdenas López; William E Magnusson; Florian Wittmann; Maria Pires Martins; Daniel Sabatier; Mariana Victória Irume; José Renan da Silva Guimarães; Jean-François Molino; Olaf S Bánki; Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade; Nigel C A Pitman; José Ferreira Ramos; Abel Monteagudo Mendoza; Eduardo Martins Venticinque; Bruno Garcia Luize; Percy Núñez Vargas; Thiago Sanna Freire Silva; Evlyn Márcia Moraes de Leão Novo; Neidiane Farias Costa Reis; John Terborgh; Angelo Gilberto Manzatto; Katia Regina Casula; Euridice N Honorio Coronado; Juan Carlos Montero; Alvaro Duque; Flávia R C Costa; Nicolás Castaño Arboleda; Jochen Schöngart; Charles Eugene Zartman; Timothy J Killeen; Beatriz S Marimon; Ben Hur Marimon-Junior; Rodolfo Vasquez; Bonifacio Mostacedo; Layon O Demarchi; Ted R Feldpausch; Julien Engel; Pascal Petronelli; Chris Baraloto; Rafael L Assis; Hernán Castellanos; Marcelo Fragomeni Simon; Marcelo Brilhante de Medeiros; Adriano Quaresma; Susan G W Laurance; Lorena M Rincón; Ana Andrade; Thaiane R Sousa; José Luís Camargo; Juliana Schietti; William F Laurance; Helder Lima de Queiroz; Henrique Eduardo Mendonça Nascimento; Maria Aparecida Lopes; Emanuelle de Sousa Farias; José Leonardo Lima Magalhães; Roel Brienen; Gerardo A Aymard C; Juan David Cardenas Revilla; Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira; Bruno Barçante Ladvocat Cintra; Pablo R Stevenson; Yuri Oliveira Feitosa; Joost F Duivenvoorden; Hugo F Mogollón; Alejandro Araujo-Murakami; Leandro Valle Ferreira; José Rafael Lozada; James A Comiskey; José Julio de Toledo; Gabriel Damasco; Nállarett Dávila; Aline Lopes; Roosevelt García-Villacorta; Freddie Draper; Alberto Vicentini; Fernando Cornejo Valverde; Jon Lloyd; Vitor H F Gomes; David Neill; Alfonso Alonso; Francisco Dallmeier; Fernanda Coelho de Souza; Rogerio Gribel; Luzmila Arroyo; Fernanda Antunes Carvalho; Daniel Praia Portela de Aguiar; Dário Dantas do Amaral; Marcelo Petratti Pansonato; Kenneth J Feeley; Erika Berenguer; Paul V A Fine; Marcelino Carneiro Guedes; Jos Barlow; Joice Ferreira; Boris Villa; Maria Cristina Peñuela Mora; Eliana M Jimenez; Juan Carlos Licona; Carlos Cerón; Raquel Thomas; Paul Maas; Marcos Silveira; Terry W Henkel; Juliana Stropp; Marcos Ríos Paredes; Kyle G Dexter; Doug Daly; Tim R Baker; Isau Huamantupa-Chuquimaco; William Milliken; Toby Pennington; J Sebastián Tello; José Luis Marcelo Pena; Carlos A Peres; Bente Klitgaard; Alfredo Fuentes; Miles R Silman; Anthony Di Fiore; Patricio von Hildebrand; Jerome Chave; Tinde R van Andel; Renato Richard Hilário; Juan Fernando Phillips; Gonzalo Rivas-Torres; Janaína Costa Noronha; Adriana Prieto; Therany Gonzales; Rainiellene de Sá Carpanedo; George Pepe Gallardo Gonzales; Ricardo Zárate Gómez; Domingos de Jesus Rodrigues; Egleé L Zent; Ademir R Ruschel; Vincent Antoine Vos; Émile Fonty; André Braga Junqueira; Hilda Paulette Dávila Doza; Bruce Hoffman; Stanford Zent; Edelcilio Marques Barbosa; Yadvinder Malhi; Luiz Carlos de Matos Bonates; Ires Paula de Andrade Miranda; Natalino Silva; Flávia Rodrigues Barbosa; César I A Vela; Linder Felipe Mozombite Pinto; Agustín Rudas; Bianca Weiss Albuquerque; Maria Natalia Umaña; Yrma Andreina Carrero Márquez; Geertje van der Heijden; Kenneth R Young; Milton Tirado; Diego F Correa; Rodrigo Sierra; Janaina Barbosa Pedrosa Costa; Maira Rocha; Emilio Vilanova Torre; Ophelia Wang; Alexandre A Oliveira; Michelle Kalamandeen; Corine Vriesendorp; Hirma Ramirez-Angulo; Milena Holmgren; Marcelo Trindade Nascimento; David Galbraith; Bernardo Monteiro Flores; Veridiana Vizoni Scudeller; Angela Cano; Manuel Augusto Ahuite Reategui; Italo Mesones; Cláudia Baider; Casimiro Mendoza; Roderick Zagt; Ligia Estela Urrego Giraldo; Cid Ferreira; Daniel Villarroel; Reynaldo Linares-Palomino; William Farfan-Rios; William Farfan-Rios; Luisa Fernanda Casas; Sasha Cárdenas; Henrik Balslev; Armando Torres-Lezama; Miguel N Alexiades; Karina Garcia-Cabrera; Luis Valenzuela Gamarra; Elvis H Valderrama Sandoval; Freddy Ramirez Arevalo; Lionel Hernandez; Adeilza Felipe Sampaio; Susamar Pansini; Walter Palacios Cuenca; Edmar Almeida de Oliveira; Daniela Pauletto; Aurora Levesley; Karina Melgaço; Georgia Pickavance Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2020-06-23 Impact factor: 4.379