Multispecies coexistence of trees in tropical forests: spatial signals of topographic niche differentiation increase with environmental heterogeneity
Author
Brown C, Burslem DFRP, Illian JB, Bao L, Brockelman W, Cao M, Chang LW, Dattaraja HS, Davies S, Gunatilleke CVS, Gunatilleke IAUN, Huang J, Kassim AR, LaFrankie JV, Lian J, Lin L, Ma K, Mi X, Nathalang A, Noor S, Ong P, Sukumar R, Su SH, Sun IF, Suresh HS, Tan S, Thompson J, Uriarte M, Valencia R, Yap SL, Ye W, Law R
University of Edinburgh; University of St Andrews; University of Aberdeen; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Botany, CAS; National Science & Technology Development Agency - Thailand; National Center Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (BIOTEC); Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS; Indian Institute of Science (IISC) - Bangalore; Harvard University; Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; University of Peradeniya; Chinese Academy of Sciences; South China Botanical Garden, CAS; Institute Penyelidikan Perhutanan Malaysia; University of the Philippines System; University of the Philippines Diliman; National Dong Hwa University; Jabatan Hutan Sarawak; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH); Columbia University; Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador; University of York - UK; University of York - UK
Type
Article
Source Title
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Year
2013
Volume
280
Issue
1764
Open Access
Green Published, Bronze, Green Submitted
Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2013.0502
Format
PDF
Abstract
Neutral and niche theories give contrasting explanations for the maintenance of tropical tree species diversity. Both have some empirical support, but methods to disentangle their effects have not yet been developed. We applied a statistical measure of spatial structure to data from 14 large tropical forest plots to test a prediction of niche theory that is incompatible with neutral theory: that species in heterogeneous environments should separate out in space according to their niche preferences. We chose plots across a range of topographic heterogeneity, and tested whether pairwise spatial associations among species were more variable in more heterogeneous sites. We found strong support for this prediction, based on a strong positive relationship between variance in the spatial structure of species pairs and topographic heterogeneity across sites. We interpret this pattern as evidence of pervasive niche differentiation, which increases in importance with increasing environmental heterogeneity.
