A new hypothesis, based on differences in the rates at which populations of competing
species approach competitive equilibrium (reduction or exclusion of some species), is …

It has recently been argued that, because of the influence of disturbance, few if any
communities in nature achieve a competitive equilibrium (Drury and Nisbet 1973; Connell …

The six major hypotheses of the control of species diversity are restated, examined, and
some possible tests suggested. Although several of these mechanisms could be operating …

Species diversity is most simply measured by counting species. More complicated
measures, which take into account the relative abundance of the species, have been …

Investigating the effect of biodiversity on the stability of ecological communities is
complicated by the numerous ways in which models of community interactions can be …

A model is proposed to account for the level of diversity supported by any ecological
community. If we begin with a hypothetical increase in the stability of the physical …

The rarefaction method proposed by Sanders (1968) to allow one to compare the diversity of
samples composed of different numbers of individuals and species is compared with the …

We use a two-species model of plant competition to explore the effect of intraspecific
variation on community dynamics. The competitive ability (“performance”) of each individual …

Inspired significantly by the provocative papers of MacArthur (34, 35, 38) and Hutchinson
(22), ecologists over the past twenty years have devoted considerable energy to the …

▪ Abstract The focus of most ideas on diversity maintenance is species coexistence, which
may be stable or unstable. Stable coexistence can be quantified by the long-term rates at …