Missing Species Combinations

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Abstract
Several studies of species arrangements over a set of islands or quadrats were reconsidered. For all but one, absence of certain species combinations was taken to indicate competitive exclusions. In every instance, mathematical error or lack of a properly framed null hypothesis casts these claims into doubt. An alternative hypothesis, that species [plant, bird and mammal] colonize sites independently of the presence of other species but at different rates or with different probabilities of survival, was tested by computer simulation and was consistent with most of the data. Even when it is inconsistent, the occurrence of species interactions cannot be concluded.