IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecomod/v220y2009i20p2603-2610.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Studying ecological communities from a neutral standpoint: A review of models’ structure and parameter estimation

Author

Listed:
  • Beeravolu, Champak R.
  • Couteron, Pierre
  • Pélissier, Raphaël
  • Munoz, François

Abstract

Neutral models provide an alternative to niche-based assembly rules of ecological communities by assuming that communities’ properties are shaped by the stochastic interplay between ecological drift, migration and speciation. The recent and ongoing interest about neutral assumptions has produced many developments on the theoretical side, with nevertheless limited echoes in terms of analyses of real-world data. The present review paper aims to help bridge the widening gap between modellers and field ecologists through two objectives. First, to provide a multi-criteria typology of the main neutral models, including those from population genetics that have not yet been transposed to ecology, by considering how the fundamental processes of ecological drift, speciation and migration are modelled and, specifically, how space is taken into account. Second, to review methods recently proposed to estimate models parameters from field data, a point that should be mastered to allow for broader applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Beeravolu, Champak R. & Couteron, Pierre & Pélissier, Raphaël & Munoz, François, 2009. "Studying ecological communities from a neutral standpoint: A review of models’ structure and parameter estimation," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(20), pages 2603-2610.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:220:y:2009:i:20:p:2603-2610
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.06.041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380009004499
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.06.041?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Harte, 2003. "Tail of death and resurrection," Nature, Nature, vol. 424(6952), pages 1006-1007, August.
    2. Jérôme Chave & David Alonso & Rampal S. Etienne, 2006. "Comparing models of species abundance," Nature, Nature, vol. 441(7089), pages 1-1, May.
    3. Igor Volkov & Jayanth R. Banavar & Stephen P. Hubbell & Amos Maritan, 2007. "Patterns of relative species abundance in rainforests and coral reefs," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7166), pages 45-49, November.
    4. Maria Dornelas & Sean R. Connolly & Terence P. Hughes, 2006. "Coral reef diversity refutes the neutral theory of biodiversity," Nature, Nature, vol. 440(7080), pages 80-82, March.
    5. Igor Volkov & Jayanth R. Banavar & Stephen P. Hubbell & Amos Maritan, 2003. "Neutral theory and relative species abundance in ecology," Nature, Nature, vol. 424(6952), pages 1035-1037, August.
    6. Brian J. McGill, 2003. "A test of the unified neutral theory of biodiversity," Nature, Nature, vol. 422(6934), pages 881-885, April.
    7. Chave, Jérôme & Norden, Natalia, 2007. "Changes of species diversity in a simulated fragmented neutral landscape," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 207(1), pages 3-10.
    8. Igor Volkov & Jayanth R. Banavar & Fangliang He & Stephen P. Hubbell & Amos Maritan, 2005. "Density dependence explains tree species abundance and diversity in tropical forests," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7068), pages 658-661, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Engen, Steinar & Aagaard, Kaare & Bongard, Terje, 2011. "Disentangling the effects of heterogeneity, stochastic dynamics and sampling in a community of aquatic insects," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(8), pages 1387-1393.
    2. White, Denis & Rashleigh, Brenda, 2012. "Effects of stream topology on ecological community results from neutral models," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 20-24.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tancredi Caruso & Jeff R Powell & Matthias C Rillig, 2012. "Compositional Divergence and Convergence in Local Communities and Spatially Structured Landscapes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(4), pages 1-10, April.
    2. Liao, Jinbao & Li, Zhenqing & Quets, Jan J. & Nijs, Ivan, 2013. "Effects of space partitioning in a plant species diversity model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 271-278.
    3. Omar Al Hammal & David Alonso & Rampal S Etienne & Stephen J Cornell, 2015. "When Can Species Abundance Data Reveal Non-neutrality?," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, March.
    4. Chen, Youhua, 2016. "Local speciation can be incorporated into neutral theory of biodiversity," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 325(C), pages 67-70.
    5. Yosef E Maruvka & Nadav M Shnerb, 2009. "Polymorphism Data Can Reveal the Origin of Species Abundance Statistics," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(4), pages 1-6, April.
    6. Fung, Tak & Chisholm, Ryan A., 2023. "Improving the realism of neutral ecological models by incorporating transient dynamics with temporal changes in community size," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 12-26.
    7. Alex D Washburne & Joshua W Burby & Daniel Lacker, 2016. "Novel Covariance-Based Neutrality Test of Time-Series Data Reveals Asymmetries in Ecological and Economic Systems," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-14, September.
    8. Li, Jie & Shen, Xuzhu, 2018. "An improved neutral community model for temporal observations in microbial communities," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 388(C), pages 108-114.
    9. Edgardo Brigatti & Estevan Augusto Amazonas Mendes, 2021. "Testing macroecological theories in cryptocurrency market: neutral models can not describe diversity patterns and their variation," Papers 2111.02067, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2022.
    10. Menezes, J. & Moura, B., 2022. "Pattern formation and coarsening dynamics in apparent competition models," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Köhler, Peter & Huth, Andreas, 2007. "Impacts of recruitment limitation and canopy disturbance on tropical tree species richness," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 511-517.
    12. White, Denis & Rashleigh, Brenda, 2012. "Effects of stream topology on ecological community results from neutral models," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 20-24.
    13. Tenorio, M. & Rangel, E. & Menezes, J., 2022. "Adaptive movement strategy in rock-paper-scissors models," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    14. Jochen Merker & Benjamin Kunsch & Gregor Schuldt, 2021. "Nonlinear Compartment Models with Time-Dependent Parameters," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(14), pages 1-13, July.
    15. Han, Zhi-Quan & Liu, Tong & Zhao, Wen-Xuan & Wang, Han-Yue & Sun, Qin-Ming & Sun, Hui & Li, Bai-Lian, 2022. "A new species abundance distribution model including the hydrological niche differentiation in water-limited ecosystems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 470(C).
    16. Babak, Petro & He, Fangliang, 2009. "A neutral model of edge effects," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 76-83.
    17. Menezes, J. & Barbalho, R., 2023. "How multiple weak species jeopardise biodiversity in spatial rock–paper–scissors models," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    18. Chengyi Tu & Paolo DOdorico & Samir Suweis, 2018. "Critical slowing down associated with critical transition and risk of collapse in cryptocurrency," Papers 1806.08386, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2019.
    19. Marco Marani & Tommaso Zillio & Enrica Belluco & Sonia Silvestri & Amos Maritan, 2006. "Non-Neutral Vegetation Dynamics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 1(1), pages 1-5, December.
    20. Chisholm, Ryan A. & O’Dwyer, James P., 2014. "Species ages in neutral biodiversity models," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-94.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:220:y:2009:i:20:p:2603-2610. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-modelling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.