Neutral model of biodiversity: evolutionary and ecological determinants of species abundance distribution

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14607
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: University of the Ryukyus
• Principal Investigator: KUBOTA Yasuhiro 琉球大学, 理学部, 教授 (50295234)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 生物多様性 / マクロ生態学 / 種アバンダンス分布 / 中立モデル / 群集系統

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We compiled global-scale dataset of species abundance distribution (SAD) sampled in local communities across the planet and multiple taxa, and then tested neutral and non-neutral models to predict SAD patterns. We tested 1) climatic and geographic correlates of global forest tree species abundance distributions and community evenness, 2) non-neutrality in forest communities and the roles of evolutionary and ecological processes, 3) the tangled link between diversity measures (alpla, beta and gamma), 4) the influence of competitive intransitivity on emerging neutral patterns in local plant communities and 5) taxon- and habitat-specificities of SAD patterns. Based on these results, we demonstrated the role of non-neutral ecological processes to stochastic neutral processes such as dispersal limitation and historical contingency.

Free Research Field

群集生態学