Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Saito, Victor S.
Data de Publicação: 2018
Outros Autores: Laroche, Fabien, Siqueira, Tadeu [UNESP], Pavoine, Sandrine
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/11449/164176
Resumo: The role of niche differences and competition is invoked when one finds coexisting species to be more dissimilar in trait composition than expected at random in community assembly studies. This approach has been questioned as competition has been hypothesized to either lead to communities assembled by similar or dissimilar species, depending on whether species similarity reflects fitness or niche differences, respectively. A current problem is that the arguments used to draw relationships between competition and species similarity are based on pairwise theoretical examples, while in nature competition can occurs among a constellation of species with different levels of versatility in resources used. By versatility we mean the documented ability of some species to escape competition for commonly used resources by changing for marginal and unused resources. Thus, a versatile species will have the ability to decrease niche overlap with all other species when facing strong competitors. When these species are embedded in multiple interactions the role of pairwise niche and fitness differences could be reduced due to indirect effects and thus competition would not be detectable. Here we developed a coexistence theory where competition occurs simultaneously among multiple species with different levels of versatility and then used it in a simulation to unravel patterns of species similarity during community assembly. We found that simulated communities can be assembled by species with more, less or equal similarity compared to a null model when using a mean distance based metric (SES.MPD). However, contrasting these varied results, we consistently found species overdispersion using a nearest neighbor-based metric (SES.MNTD), even when species differences reflected more directly their competitive abilities than their niche differences. Strong tendency to overdispersion emerged when high ecological versatility promoted large niche differences and enabled coexistence. This is because versatility to use marginal resources compensates possible fitness differences among species. Our findings provide mounting evidence of the important role of minimum niche differences and versatility in resource consumption for species embedded in multiple direct and indirect interactions.
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spelling Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferencesassembly rulesclusteringfunctional diversityfunctional versatilitylimiting similaritymultispecies competitionniche theoryoverdispersionThe role of niche differences and competition is invoked when one finds coexisting species to be more dissimilar in trait composition than expected at random in community assembly studies. This approach has been questioned as competition has been hypothesized to either lead to communities assembled by similar or dissimilar species, depending on whether species similarity reflects fitness or niche differences, respectively. A current problem is that the arguments used to draw relationships between competition and species similarity are based on pairwise theoretical examples, while in nature competition can occurs among a constellation of species with different levels of versatility in resources used. By versatility we mean the documented ability of some species to escape competition for commonly used resources by changing for marginal and unused resources. Thus, a versatile species will have the ability to decrease niche overlap with all other species when facing strong competitors. When these species are embedded in multiple interactions the role of pairwise niche and fitness differences could be reduced due to indirect effects and thus competition would not be detectable. Here we developed a coexistence theory where competition occurs simultaneously among multiple species with different levels of versatility and then used it in a simulation to unravel patterns of species similarity during community assembly. We found that simulated communities can be assembled by species with more, less or equal similarity compared to a null model when using a mean distance based metric (SES.MPD). However, contrasting these varied results, we consistently found species overdispersion using a nearest neighbor-based metric (SES.MNTD), even when species differences reflected more directly their competitive abilities than their niche differences. Strong tendency to overdispersion emerged when high ecological versatility promoted large niche differences and enabled coexistence. This is because versatility to use marginal resources compensates possible fitness differences among species. Our findings provide mounting evidence of the important role of minimum niche differences and versatility in resource consumption for species embedded in multiple direct and indirect interactions.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Ciencias Ambientais DCAm, Rodovia Washington Luis,Km 235, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Carlos, Programa Posgrad Ecol & Recursos, Rodovia Washington Luis,Km 235, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP, BrazilUPMC, Sorbonne Univ, Ctr Ecol & Sci Conservat CESCO UMR7204, MNHN,CNRS, CP51,43-61 Rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, FranceIrstea, UR EFNO, F-45290 Nogent Sur Vernisson, FranceUniv Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, UNESP, Av 24-A,1515, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, UNESP, Av 24-A,1515, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP, BrazilFAPESP: 2013/50424-1FAPESP: 2013/20540-0FAPESP: 2014/24532-4CNPq: 403723/2012-4Wiley-BlackwellUniversidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar)UPMCIrsteaUniversidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)Saito, Victor S.Laroche, FabienSiqueira, Tadeu [UNESP]Pavoine, Sandrine2018-11-26T17:51:34Z2018-11-26T17:51:34Z2018-05-01info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/article1173-1183application/pdfEcology. Hoboken: Wiley, v. 99, n. 5, p. 1173-1183, 2018.0012-9658http://hdl.handle.net/11449/164176WOS:000431987600018WOS000431987600018.pdfWeb of Sciencereponame:Repositório Institucional da UNESPinstname:Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)instacron:UNESPengEcology2,998info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess2023-11-04T06:06:28Zoai:repositorio.unesp.br:11449/164176Repositório InstitucionalPUBhttp://repositorio.unesp.br/oai/requestopendoar:29462024-08-05T16:51:46.625167Repositório Institucional da UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)false
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences
title Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences
spellingShingle Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences
Saito, Victor S.
assembly rules
clustering
functional diversity
functional versatility
limiting similarity
multispecies competition
niche theory
overdispersion
title_short Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences
title_full Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences
title_fullStr Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences
title_full_unstemmed Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences
title_sort Ecological versatility and the assembly of multiple competitors: cautionary notes for assembly inferences
author Saito, Victor S.
author_facet Saito, Victor S.
Laroche, Fabien
Siqueira, Tadeu [UNESP]
Pavoine, Sandrine
author_role author
author2 Laroche, Fabien
Siqueira, Tadeu [UNESP]
Pavoine, Sandrine
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar)
UPMC
Irstea
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Saito, Victor S.
Laroche, Fabien
Siqueira, Tadeu [UNESP]
Pavoine, Sandrine
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv assembly rules
clustering
functional diversity
functional versatility
limiting similarity
multispecies competition
niche theory
overdispersion
topic assembly rules
clustering
functional diversity
functional versatility
limiting similarity
multispecies competition
niche theory
overdispersion
description The role of niche differences and competition is invoked when one finds coexisting species to be more dissimilar in trait composition than expected at random in community assembly studies. This approach has been questioned as competition has been hypothesized to either lead to communities assembled by similar or dissimilar species, depending on whether species similarity reflects fitness or niche differences, respectively. A current problem is that the arguments used to draw relationships between competition and species similarity are based on pairwise theoretical examples, while in nature competition can occurs among a constellation of species with different levels of versatility in resources used. By versatility we mean the documented ability of some species to escape competition for commonly used resources by changing for marginal and unused resources. Thus, a versatile species will have the ability to decrease niche overlap with all other species when facing strong competitors. When these species are embedded in multiple interactions the role of pairwise niche and fitness differences could be reduced due to indirect effects and thus competition would not be detectable. Here we developed a coexistence theory where competition occurs simultaneously among multiple species with different levels of versatility and then used it in a simulation to unravel patterns of species similarity during community assembly. We found that simulated communities can be assembled by species with more, less or equal similarity compared to a null model when using a mean distance based metric (SES.MPD). However, contrasting these varied results, we consistently found species overdispersion using a nearest neighbor-based metric (SES.MNTD), even when species differences reflected more directly their competitive abilities than their niche differences. Strong tendency to overdispersion emerged when high ecological versatility promoted large niche differences and enabled coexistence. This is because versatility to use marginal resources compensates possible fitness differences among species. Our findings provide mounting evidence of the important role of minimum niche differences and versatility in resource consumption for species embedded in multiple direct and indirect interactions.
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018-11-26T17:51:34Z
2018-11-26T17:51:34Z
2018-05-01
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv Ecology. Hoboken: Wiley, v. 99, n. 5, p. 1173-1183, 2018.
0012-9658
http://hdl.handle.net/11449/164176
WOS:000431987600018
WOS000431987600018.pdf
identifier_str_mv Ecology. Hoboken: Wiley, v. 99, n. 5, p. 1173-1183, 2018.
0012-9658
WOS:000431987600018
WOS000431987600018.pdf
url http://hdl.handle.net/11449/164176
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Ecology
2,998
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 1173-1183
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley-Blackwell
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley-Blackwell
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Web of Science
reponame:Repositório Institucional da UNESP
instname:Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
instacron:UNESP
instname_str Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
instacron_str UNESP
institution UNESP
reponame_str Repositório Institucional da UNESP
collection Repositório Institucional da UNESP
repository.name.fl_str_mv Repositório Institucional da UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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