Beyond pairwise mechanisms of species coexistence in complex communities

The tremendous diversity of species in ecological communities has motivated a century of research into the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity. However, much of this work examines the coexistence of just pairs of competitors. This approach ignores those mechanisms of coexistence that emerge only i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2017-06, Vol.546 (7656), p.56-64
Main Authors: Levine, Jonathan M., Bascompte, Jordi, Adler, Peter B., Allesina, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158
Animals
Biodiversity
Biota
Coexistence
Communities
Competition
Competition (Biology)
Competitive Behavior
Coupling
Distribution
Ecological research
Ecology
Ecosystem biology
Ecosystems
Environmental aspects
Extinction, Biological
Humanities and Social Sciences
Models, Biological
multidisciplinary
Networks
review-article
Science
Species (Biology)
Species diversity
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Summary:The tremendous diversity of species in ecological communities has motivated a century of research into the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity. However, much of this work examines the coexistence of just pairs of competitors. This approach ignores those mechanisms of coexistence that emerge only in diverse competitive networks. Despite the potential for these mechanisms to create conditions under which the loss of one competitor triggers the loss of others, we lack the knowledge needed to judge their importance for coexistence in nature. Progress requires borrowing insight from the study of multitrophic interaction networks, and coupling empirical data to models of competition.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature22898