Asymmetric Density Dependence Shapes Species Abundances in a Tropical Tree Community

Comita, Liza S.; Muller‐Landau, Helene C.; Aguilar, Salomo ́n; Hubbell, Stephen P.

doi:10.1126/science.1190772

Cited by 584 publications

(911 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The models here also ignore heterospecific interactions as determinants of population spatial structure, despite the fact that heterospecific neighbors also have strong influences on the growth and survival of individuals (Uriarte et al 2004;Comita et al 2010). A multispecies model that includes heterospecific as well as conspecific interactions has been developed by Law and Dieckmann (2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitting Ecological Process Models to Spatial Patterns Using Scalewise Variances and Moment Equations

Detto

Muller‐Landau

2013

The American Naturalist

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. 7, 2012; Accepted October 29, 2012; Electronically published February 19, 2013 Online enhancement: zip file with appendixes, supplemental figure. abstract: Ecological spatial patterns are structured by a multiplicity of processes acting over a wide range of scales. We propose a new method, based on the scalewise variance-that is, the variance as a function of spatial scale, calculated here with wavelet kernel functions-to disentangle the signature of processes that act at different and similar scales on observed spatial patterns. We derive exact and approximate analytical solutions for the expected scalewise variance under different individual-based, spatially explicit models for sessile organisms (e.g., plants), using moment equations. We further determine the probability distribution of independently observed scalewise variances for a given expectation, including complete spatial randomness. Thus, we provide a new analytical test of the null model of spatial randomness to understand at which scales, if any, the variance departs significantly from randomness. We also derive the likelihood function that is needed to estimate parameters of spatial models and their uncertainties from observed patterns. The methods are demonstrated through numerical examples and case studies of four tropical tree species on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The methods developed here constitute powerful new tools for investigating effects of ecological processes on spatial point patterns and for statistical inference of process models from spatial patterns.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitting Ecological Process Models to Spatial Patterns Using Scalewise Variances and Moment Equations

Detto

Muller‐Landau

2013

The American Naturalist

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“…However, variation in the strength of conspecific and phylogenetic neighborhood effects likely occurs within sites, including spatial, temporal, and/or among-species variation (e.g. Comita et al 2010, Zhu et al 2015, LaManna et al 2016. A better understanding of conspecific and phylogenetic neighborhood effects could be gained by future studies examining variation within sites and testing whether interspecific differences in the strength of neighborhood effects are linked to species traits.…”

Section: Accepted Ar Ticlementioning

confidence: 99%

Forest tree neighborhoods are structured more by negative conspecific density dependence than by interactions among closely related species

et al. 2017

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Interactions among neighbors influence the structure of communities of sessile organisms. Closely related species tend to share habitat and resource requirements and to interact with the same mutualists and natural enemies so that the strength of interspecific interactions tends to decrease with evolutionary divergence time. Nevertheless, the degree to which such phylogenetically related ecological interactions structure plant communities remains unclear. Using data from five large mapped forest plots combined with a DNA barcode mega‐phylogeny, we employed an individual‐based approach to assess the collective effects of focal tree size on neighborhood phylogenetic relatedness. Abundance‐weighted average divergence time for all neighbors (ADT_all) and for heterospecific neighbors only (ADT_hetero) were calculated for each individual of canopy tree species. Within local neighborhoods, we found phylogenetic composition changed with focal tree size. Specifically, significant increases in ADT_all with focal tree size were evident at all sites. In contrast, there was no significant change in ADT_hetero with tree size in four of the five sites for both sapling‐sized and all neighbors, even at the smallest neighbourhood scale (0–5 m), suggesting a limited role for phylogeny‐dependent interactions. However, there were inverse relationships between focal tree size and the proportion of heterospecific neighbors belonging to closely related species at some sites, providing evidence for negative phylogenetic density dependence. Overall, our results indicate that negative interaction with conspecifics had a much greater impact on neighborhood assemblages than interactions among closely related species and could contribute to community structure and diversity maintenance in different forest communities.

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“…Based on these 7 studies, support of the Janzen-Connell hypothesis is equivocal. Recent studies show evidence of negative density dependence (Comita and Hubbell 2009;Chen et al 2010;Comita et al 2010), but more studies involving multiple species are needed (Carson et al 2008;Swamy and Terborgh 2010). Fire can be expected to influence the strength of these herbivore-plant interactions by decreasing plant diversity, effectively making regenerating seedlings more apparent to herbivores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between repeated fire, nutrients, and insect herbivores affect the recovery of diversity in the southern Amazon

et al. 2012

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Surface fires burn extensive areas of tropical forests each year, altering resource availability, biotic interactions, and, ultimately, plant diversity. In transitional forest between the Brazilian cerrado (savanna) and high stature Amazon forest, we took advantage of a long-term fire experiment to establish a factorial study of the interactions between fire, nutrient availability, and herbivory on early plant regeneration. Overall, five annual burns reduced the number and diversity of regenerating stems. Community composition changed substantially after repeated fires, and species common in the cerrado became more abundant. The number of recruits and their diversity were reduced in the burned area, but burned plots closed to herbivores with nitrogen additions had a 14 % increase in recruitment. Diversity of recruits also increased up to 50 % in burned plots when nitrogen was added. Phosphorus additions were related to an increase in species evenness in burned plots open to herbivores. Herbivory reduced seedling survival overall and increased diversity in burned plots when nutrients were added. This last result supports our hypothesis that positive relationships between herbivore presence and diversity would be strongest in treatments that favor herbivory—in this case herbivory was higher in burned plots which were initially lower in diversity. Regenerating seedlings in less diverse plots were likely more apparent to herbivores, enabling increased herbivory and a stronger signal of negative density dependence

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Asymmetric Density Dependence Shapes Species Abundances in a Tropical Tree Community

Cited by 584 publications

References 32 publications

Fitting Ecological Process Models to Spatial Patterns Using Scalewise Variances and Moment Equations

Fitting Ecological Process Models to Spatial Patterns Using Scalewise Variances and Moment Equations

Forest tree neighborhoods are structured more by negative conspecific density dependence than by interactions among closely related species

Interactions between repeated fire, nutrients, and insect herbivores affect the recovery of diversity in the southern Amazon

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