Modern coexistence theory and contemporary niche theory represent parallel frameworks
for understanding the niche's role in species coexistence. Despite increasing prominence …

Why do species live where they live? What determines the abundance and diversity of
species in a given area? What role do species play in the functioning of entire ecosystems …

Few invaded ecosystems are free from habitat loss and disturbance, leading to uncertainty
whether dominant invasive species are driving community change or are passengers along …

Community ecology: the study of the patterns and processes involving two or more species-
has developed rapidly in the last two decades, driven by new and more sophisticated …

Ecology Letters (2011) 14: 782–787 Abstract One of the oldest ecological hypotheses,
proposed by Darwin, suggests that the struggle for existence is stronger between more …

Although the distribution of plant species abundance in a Minnesota grassland was
consistent with neutral theory, niche but not neutral mechanisms were supported by the …

Publisher Summary This chapter examines various concepts in community ecology that are
difficult to observe in natural systems and examines some laboratory studies that document …

The competition-colonization trade-off has long been considered an important mechanism
explaining species coexistence in spatially structured environments, yet data supporting it …

Disturbance is an important factor influencing diversity patterns. Ecological theory predicts
that diversity peaks at intermediate levels of disturbance, but this pattern is not present in a …

Spatially synchronized fluctuations in system state are common in physical and biological
systems ranging from individual atoms to species as diverse as viruses, insects and …