COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF PLANT BIODIVERSITY IN STABLE AND UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENTS: A TEST OF THE NEUTRAL BIODIVERSITY THEORY

摘要: The Neutral Biodiversity Theory (NBT) argues that community-level patterns are not determined by trait differences among species, but rather demographic stochasticity. If true, deterministic of species co-existence, transient or otherwise, should occur. We tested this critical prediction using a spatially explicit, reiterative algorithm (SERA) incorporates stochasticity to examine how artificial plant compete for light and space. An additional level ecological realism was added simulating competition in heterogeneous disturbed environments. Across 108 simulations, small niche influenced interspecific persistence, particularly spatiotemporally One re-emerged as the dominant, identities subdominant rare remained constant. Although stochastic processes played an important role, results these simulations inconsistent with NBT, i.e., very dictated even when all obey same simple physical rules.