title: Concurrent niche and neutral processes in the competition-colonization model of species coexistence.
abstract: The importance of neutral dynamics is contentiously debated in the ecological literature. This debate focuses on neutral theory's assumption of fitness equivalency among individuals, which conflicts with stabilizing fitness that promotes coexistence through niche differentiation. I take advantage of competition-colonization trade-offs between species of aquatic micro-organisms (protozoans and rotifers) to show that equalizing and stabilizing mechanisms can operate simultaneously. Competition trials between species with similar colonization abilities were less likely to result in competitive exclusion than for species further apart. While the stabilizing mechanism (colonization differences) facilitates coexistence at large spatial scales, species with similar colonization abilities also exhibited local coexistence probably due to fitness similarities allowing weak stabilizing mechanisms to operate. These results suggest that neutral- and niche-based mechanisms of coexistence can simultaneously operate at differing temporal and spatial scales, and such a spatially explicit view of coexistence may be one way to reconcile niche and neutral dynamics.
authors: National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 725 State Street, Suite 300, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA. cadotte@nceas.ucsb.edu
authors: Marc William
authors: MW
authors: Cadotte
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012403:Rotifera / Q000502:physiology*
references: Am Nat. 2000 Aug;156(2):145-155
references: 10856198
references: Science. 2001 Sep 28;293(5539):2413-8
references: 11577228
references: Nature. 2003 Apr 24;422(6934):881-5
references: 12692564
references: Am Nat. 2003 Nov;162(5):544-57
references: 14618534
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 May 18;101(20):7651-6
references: 15128948
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Jul 27;101(30):10854-61
references: 15243158
references: Nature. 2005 Jan 20;433(7023):309-12
references: 15662423
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Jul 7;272(1570):1357-64
references: 16006328
references: Nature. 2005 Dec 1;438(7068):658-61
references: 16319890
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Apr 18;103(16):6230-5
references: 16585519
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1971 Jun;68(6):1246-8
references: 16591932
references: Ecol Lett. 2006 Apr;9(4):399-409
references: 16623725
references: Ecology. 2006 Apr;87(4):1008-16
references: 16676544
references: Ecology. 2006 May;87(5):1225-33
references: 16761601
references: Ecology. 2006 Jun;87(6):1370-7
references: 16869411
references: Ecology. 2006 Jun;87(6):1387-98
references: 16869413
references: Trends Ecol Evol. 2006 Oct;21(10):531-3
references: 16901580
references: Am Nat. 2006 Nov;168(5):704-9
references: 17080367
references: Ecology. 2006 Oct;87(10):2582-90
references: 17089666
references: Ecol Lett. 2007 Feb;10(2):95-104
references: 17257097
references: Nature. 2007 Mar 22;446(7134):436-9
references: 17377582
references: Ecology. 2007 Apr;88(4):823-9
references: 17536699
references: Science. 1978 Mar 24;199(4335):1302-10
references: 17840770
references: Am Nat. 2001 Jul;158(1):49-63
references: 18707314
references: Am Nat. 2002 Oct;160(4):452-67
references: 18707522
references: Am Nat. 1998 Nov;152(5):729-37
references: 18811347
references: Trends Ecol Evol. 1986 Jul;1(1):25-8
references: 21227775
references: Oecologia. 1980 Jul;46(1):18-21
references: 28310620
references: Am Nat. 1999 Apr;153(4):371-383
references: 29586620