Modelling the dynamics of hyper-diverse communities

To elucidate the processes which can explain the existence and the perpetuation of hyper-diverse biological communities is of major interest to theoretical ecology, as well as the applied field of conservation biology. Consequently there is a need to develop spatially explicit models that can take into account a large number of species abundances (“holistic”), and require only a limited number of parameters, which can be robustly inferred from field data.

As a result the “neutral” theory of species assemblages (Hubbell 2001[1]) recently stirred a lot of interest, as it represents the first simple holistic model (two parameters) predicting a family of species abundance distributions. The theory in itself is based on highly debatable assumptions (the equivalence of species and individuals vis-à-vis the spatiotemporal variations of the environment; Chave 2004[2]), but goes on to show that simple models are capable of generating common species distributions which can be used to compare with the observed data (approach of the null hypothesis).

[1] Hubbell, S. P. 2001. The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press. Princeton and Oxford.

[2] Chave, J. 2004. Neutral theory and community ecology. Ecology Letters, 7: 241-253.

Speaker

Champak B. Reddy, Ph.D candidate, IFP

Organisers

Department of Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry

Venue

Jawaharlal Nehru Conference Hall, French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry - 605001

Time

11:00 am