General patterns of taxonomic and biomass partitioning in extant and fossil plant communities
- 1 October 2002
- journal article
- letter
- Published by Springer Nature in Nature
- Vol. 419 (6907) , 610-613
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01069
Abstract
A central goal of evolutionary ecology is to identify the general features maintaining the diversity of species assemblages1,2,3. Understanding the taxonomic and ecological characteristics of ecological communities provides a means to develop and test theories about the processes that regulate species coexistence and diversity. Here, using data from woody plant communities from different biogeographic regions, continents and geologic time periods, we show that the number of higher taxa is a general power-function of species richness that is significantly different from randomized assemblages. In general, we find that local communities are characterized by fewer higher taxa than would be expected by chance. The degree of taxonomic diversity is influenced by modes of dispersal and potential biotic interactions. Further, changes in local diversity are accompanied by regular changes in the partitioning of community biomass between taxa that are also described by a power function. Our results indicate that local and regional processes2 have consistently regulated community diversity and biomass partitioning for millions of years.Keywords
This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
- Exploring the Phylogenetic Structure of Ecological Communities: An Example for Rain Forest TreesThe American Naturalist, 2000
- Limiting Similarity, Species Packing, and System Stability for Hierarchical Competition‐Colonization ModelsThe American Naturalist, 1999
- Altitudinal gradients in tropical forest composition, structure, and diversity in the Sierra de ManantlánJournal of Ecology, 1998
- Higher taxa in biodiversity studies: patterns from eastern Pacific marine molluscsPhilosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 1996
- Seedling Recruitment in Forests: Calibrating Models to Predict Patterns of Tree Seedling DispersionEcology, 1994
- Centres of seed-plant diversity: the family wayProceedings Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 1994
- Changes in Plant Community Diversity and Floristic Composition on Environmental and Geographical GradientsAnnals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 1988
- The Limiting Similarity, Convergence, and Divergence of Coexisting SpeciesThe American Naturalist, 1967
- Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals?The American Naturalist, 1959
- Competition and the Structure of Ecological CommunitiesJournal of Animal Ecology, 1946