Biodiversity Models: What If Unsaturation Is the Rule?
Trends Ecol Evol 2017;
32:556-566. [PMID:
28610851 PMCID:
PMC5516772 DOI:
10.1016/j.tree.2017.05.003]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2016] [Revised: 05/10/2017] [Accepted: 05/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Improving biodiversity predictions is essential if we are to meet the challenges posed by global change. As knowledge is key to feed models, we need to evaluate how debated theory can affect models. An important ongoing debate is whether environmental constraints limit the number of species that can coexist in a community (saturation), with recent findings suggesting that species richness in many communities might be unsaturated. Here, we propose that biodiversity models could address this issue by accounting for a duality: considering communities as unsaturated but where species composition is constrained by different scale-dependent biodiversity drivers. We identify a variety of promising advances for incorporating this duality into commonly applied biodiversity modelling approaches and improving their spatial predictions.
The majority of biodiversity modelling approaches do not explicitly address the question of saturation.
Theoretical and methodological implications of saturation or unsaturation in biodiversity modelling.
Addressing saturation or unsaturation is vital to produce more reliable conservation strategies.
Integrative community modelling frameworks may be the way forward.
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