Abstract
Neutral and niche theories give contrasting explanations for the maintenance of tropical tree species diversity. Both have some empirical support, but methods to disentangle their effects have not yet been developed. We applied a statistical measure of spatial structure to data from 14 large tropical forest plots to test a prediction of niche theory that is incompatible with neutral theory: that species in heterogeneous environments should separate out in space according to their niche preferences. We chose plots across a range of topographic heterogeneity, and tested whether pairwise spatial associations among species were more variable in more heterogeneous sites. We found strong support for this prediction, based on a strong positive relationship between variance in the spatial structure of species pairs and topographic heterogeneity across sites. We interpret this pattern as evidence of pervasive niche differentiation, which increases in importance with increasing environmental heterogeneity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 20130502 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences |
| Volume | 280 |
| Issue number | 1764 |
| Early online date | 19 Jun 2013 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 7 Aug 2013 |
Keywords
- species coexistence
- tropical forest
- niche differentiation
- neutral theory
- spatial pattern
- cross-pair overlap distribution
- Lankan dipterocarp forest
- habitaty associations
- beta-diversity
- patterns
- communities
- abundance
- distributions
- availability
- mechanisms
Cite this
Multispecies coexistence of trees in tropical forests : spatial signals of topographic niche differentiation increase with environmental heterogeneity. / Brown, C.; Burslem, D. F. R. P.; Illian, J. B.; Bao, L.; Brockelman, W.; Cao, M.; Chang, L. W.; Dattaraja, H. S.; Davies, S.; Gunatilleke, C. V. S.; Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N.; Huang, J.; Kassim, A. R.; LaFrankie, J. V.; Lian, J.; Lin, L.; Ma, K.; Mi, X.; Nathalang, A.; Noor, S.; Ong, P.; Sukumar, R.; Su, S. H.; Sun, I. F.; Suresh, H. S.; Tan, S.; Thompson, J.; Uriarte, M.; Valencia, R.; Yap, S. L.; Ye, W.; Law, R.
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, Vol. 280, No. 1764, 20130502, 07.08.2013.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Multispecies coexistence of trees in tropical forests
T2 - spatial signals of topographic niche differentiation increase with environmental heterogeneity
AU - Brown, C.
AU - Burslem, D. F. R. P.
AU - Illian, J. B.
AU - Bao, L.
AU - Brockelman, W.
AU - Cao, M.
AU - Chang, L. W.
AU - Dattaraja, H. S.
AU - Davies, S.
AU - Gunatilleke, C. V. S.
AU - Gunatilleke, I. A. U. N.
AU - Huang, J.
AU - Kassim, A. R.
AU - LaFrankie, J. V.
AU - Lian, J.
AU - Lin, L.
AU - Ma, K.
AU - Mi, X.
AU - Nathalang, A.
AU - Noor, S.
AU - Ong, P.
AU - Sukumar, R.
AU - Su, S. H.
AU - Sun, I. F.
AU - Suresh, H. S.
AU - Tan, S.
AU - Thompson, J.
AU - Uriarte, M.
AU - Valencia, R.
AU - Yap, S. L.
AU - Ye, W.
AU - Law, R.
N1 - Funding statement The CTFS plots were individually supported from a number of sources, details of which are given in the electronic supplementary material, text S2. C.B. was financially supported by a Microsoft PhD Scholarship. Acknowledgements We are grateful for the assistance of Yu-Wen Pan, Sandeep Pulla, Hugo Romero-Saltos and anonymous referees who provided helpful comments on the manuscript. The census and topographic data used here may be accessed directly via individual plot Principal Investigators. © 2013 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2013/8/7
Y1 - 2013/8/7
N2 - Neutral and niche theories give contrasting explanations for the maintenance of tropical tree species diversity. Both have some empirical support, but methods to disentangle their effects have not yet been developed. We applied a statistical measure of spatial structure to data from 14 large tropical forest plots to test a prediction of niche theory that is incompatible with neutral theory: that species in heterogeneous environments should separate out in space according to their niche preferences. We chose plots across a range of topographic heterogeneity, and tested whether pairwise spatial associations among species were more variable in more heterogeneous sites. We found strong support for this prediction, based on a strong positive relationship between variance in the spatial structure of species pairs and topographic heterogeneity across sites. We interpret this pattern as evidence of pervasive niche differentiation, which increases in importance with increasing environmental heterogeneity.
AB - Neutral and niche theories give contrasting explanations for the maintenance of tropical tree species diversity. Both have some empirical support, but methods to disentangle their effects have not yet been developed. We applied a statistical measure of spatial structure to data from 14 large tropical forest plots to test a prediction of niche theory that is incompatible with neutral theory: that species in heterogeneous environments should separate out in space according to their niche preferences. We chose plots across a range of topographic heterogeneity, and tested whether pairwise spatial associations among species were more variable in more heterogeneous sites. We found strong support for this prediction, based on a strong positive relationship between variance in the spatial structure of species pairs and topographic heterogeneity across sites. We interpret this pattern as evidence of pervasive niche differentiation, which increases in importance with increasing environmental heterogeneity.
KW - species coexistence
KW - tropical forest
KW - niche differentiation
KW - neutral theory
KW - spatial pattern
KW - cross-pair overlap distribution
KW - Lankan dipterocarp forest
KW - habitaty associations
KW - beta-diversity
KW - patterns
KW - communities
KW - abundance
KW - distributions
KW - availability
KW - mechanisms
U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2013.0502
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2013.0502
M3 - Article
VL - 280
JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences
SN - 0962-8452
IS - 1764
M1 - 20130502
ER -
