Species abundance distributions as a proxy for the niche-neutrality continuum  

作　　者：Xianzhi Wang M.D.Farnon Ellwood Dexiecuo Ai Renyi Zhang Gang Wang 

机构地区：[1]State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems,College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology,Lanzhou University,768 Jiayuguan Road,Chengguan District,Lanzhou,730020,China [2]Centre for Research in Biosciences,University of the West of England,Coldharbour Lane,Bristol BS161QY,UK [3]State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems,School of Life Sciences,Lanzhou University,222 Tianshui Road,Chengguan District,Lanzhou,730000,China

出　　处：《Journal of Plant Ecology》2018年第3期445-452,共8页植物生态学报（英文版）

基　　金：National Natural Science Foundation of China(31500336);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University(lzujbky-2015-85);Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest(201203006).

摘　　要：Aims Species abundance distributions(SADs)are often used to verify mechanistic theories underlying community assembly.However,it is now accepted that SADs alone are not sufficient to reveal biological mechanisms.Recent attention focuses on the relative importance of stochastic dispersal processes versus deterministic processes such as interspecific competition and environmental filtering.Here,we combine a study of the commonness and rarity of species(i.e.the SAD)with mechanistic processes underlying community composition.By comparing the occurrence frequen-cies of each and every species with its abundance,we quantify the relative contributions of common and rare species to the maintenance of community structure.Essentially,we relate the continuum between commonness and rarity with that of niches and neutrality.Methods An individual-based,spatially explicit model was used to simu-late local communities in niche spaces with the same parameters.We generated sets of assemblages from which species were elim-inated in opposing sequences:from common to rare and from rare to common,and investigated the relationship between the abundance and frequency of species.We tested the predictions of our model with empirical data from a field experiment in the environmentally homogeneous alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.Important Findings Our simulations support the widespread notion that common species maintain community structure,while rare species maintain species diversity,in both local and regional communities.Our results,both from theoretical simulations and from empirical observations,revealed positive correlations between the abundance of a particular species and its occurrence frequency.SAD curves describe a continuum between commonness and rarity.Removing species from the‘rare’end of this continuum has little effect on the similarity of communities,but remov-ing species from the‘common’end of the continuum causes significant increases in beta diversity,or species turnover,between communities.In local

关 键 词：RARITY COMMONNESS CONTINUUM occurrence frequency community similarities 

分 类 号：O17[理学—数学]