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Neutral theory and relative species abundance in ecology

Author

Listed:
  • Igor Volkov

    (The Pennsylvania State University)

  • Jayanth R. Banavar

    (The Pennsylvania State University)

  • Stephen P. Hubbell

    (The University of Georgia
    The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

  • Amos Maritan

    (International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA)
    INFM and The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics)

Abstract

The theory of island biogeography1 asserts that an island or a local community approaches an equilibrium species richness as a result of the interplay between the immigration of species from the much larger metacommunity source area and local extinction of species on the island (local community). Hubbell2 generalized this neutral theory to explore the expected steady-state distribution of relative species abundance (RSA) in the local community under restricted immigration. Here we present a theoretical framework for the unified neutral theory of biodiversity2 and an analytical solution for the distribution of the RSA both in the metacommunity (Fisher's log series) and in the local community, where there are fewer rare species. Rare species are more extinction-prone, and once they go locally extinct, they take longer to re-immigrate than do common species. Contrary to recent assertions3, we show that the analytical solution provides a better fit, with fewer free parameters, to the RSA distribution of tree species on Barro Colorado Island, Panama4, than the lognormal distribution5,6.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:424:y:2003:i:6952:d:10.1038_nature01883
    DOI: 10.1038/nature01883
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Chen, Youhua, 2016. "Local speciation can be incorporated into neutral theory of biodiversity," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 325(C), pages 67-70.
    3. Shen, Yunyi & Olson, Erik R. & Van Deelen, Timothy R., 2021. "Spatially explicit modeling of community occupancy using Markov Random Field models with imperfect observation: Mesocarnivores in Apostle Islands National Lakeshore," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 459(C).
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Chisholm, Ryan A. & O’Dwyer, James P., 2014. "Species ages in neutral biodiversity models," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-94.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    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. Babak, Petro & He, Fangliang, 2009. "A neutral model of edge effects," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 76-83.
    16. Samuel R Bray & Bo Wang, 2020. "Forecasting unprecedented ecological fluctuations," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-17, June.
    17. Susanna C Manrubia & Jacob B Axelsen & Damián H Zanette, 2012. "Role of Demographic Dynamics and Conflict in the Population-Area Relationship for Human Languages," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(7), pages 1-7, July.

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