Comment on "A keystone mutualism drives pattern in a power function".
Vandermeer and Perfecto (Reports, 17 February 2006, p. 1000) reported a general power law pattern in the distribution of a common agricultural pest. However, there is an exact analytical solution for the expected cluster distribution under the proposed null model of density-independent growth in a patchy landscape. Reanalysis of the data shows that the system is not in a critical state but confirms the importance of a mutualism.
Alonso
David
D
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 830 North University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048, USA. dalonso@umich.edu
Pascual
Mercedes
M
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D040503:Coffea; D017753:Ecosystem; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000502:physiology*; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D011156:Population Density; D011158:Population Growth; D011336:Probability; D013559:Symbiosis