Ecological Assembly Rules: Perspectives, Advances, Retreats

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Contributors......Page 9
Introduction: The scope and goals of research on assembly rules......Page 15
Type 1: Island models......Page 19
What is an assembly rule?......Page 21
Obstacles on the path......Page 23
Moving forward......Page 30
References......Page 32
Part I: The search for meaningful patterns in species assemblages......Page 35
Diamond’s assembly rule......Page 37
M’Closkey’s demonstration of the mechanism......Page 39
Colwell and Winkler’s null models for null models......Page 41
The genesis of the guild assembly rule......Page 43
Statement of the guild assembly rule......Page 45
The effect of skewed resource availability......Page 46
North America: shrews in NE forests, rodents in SW deserts and boreal forests......Page 51
South America: rodents at the Valdivian rainforest–Patagonian steppe interface......Page 52
Summary of the applicability of the guild assembly rule......Page 53
Methodological considerations......Page 54
Wilson (1995a), Fox and Brown (1995) and Wilson (1995b)......Page 55
Stone, Dayan and Simberloff (1996)......Page 59
Morris’s derivation from the MacArthur–Tilman consumer-resource model......Page 60
Interpretation of the Nevada data in terms of a consumer-resource model......Page 62
Kelt’s inclusion of habitat component assessment of interspecific competition......Page 63
What future for guild assembly rules?......Page 65
Conclusions......Page 66
References......Page 68
Introduction......Page 72
Functional groups and favored states......Page 73
The data......Page 74
The original results......Page 75
The matrix randomization method......Page 76
Is the Fox and Brown (1995) test biased?......Page 78
Species ranges and co-occurrence patterns......Page 80
Randomizing functional group assignments......Page 82
The shared-site null hypothesis......Page 83
Discussion......Page 85
References......Page 86
Introduction......Page 89
Patterns of species richness......Page 91
Local species richness increases with increasing complexity of habitat structure, and other characteristics of the soil and…......Page 92
Local communities contain species that are more different in body size and other morphological characteristics than expected…......Page 93
Closely related species coexist less frequently than expected by chance......Page 95
Species in the same functional group coexist less frequently than expected by chance......Page 96
Patterns in the identities of species......Page 101
Certain pairs and other combinations of species coexist either less or more frequently than expected by chance......Page 102
Statistical, phylogenetic, and functional relationships......Page 103
Causal mechanisms: interspecific competition and/or allopatric speciation......Page 105
Causal mechanisms: ecological sorting and/or evolutionary character displacement......Page 107
Statistical and methodological issues: distinguishing pattern from randomness and characterizing assembly rules......Page 108
There are many possible ‘null’ or alternative hypotheses......Page 109
Tests differ in statistical power......Page 110
Conceptual issues: pursuing the relationship between pattern and process......Page 111
References......Page 114
Appendix......Page 119
Introduction......Page 122
The islands......Page 123
The formulation of the species pool......Page 124
Results......Page 128
Discussion......Page 129
Methods......Page 130
Results......Page 131
Discussion......Page 133
Methods......Page 134
Discussion......Page 135
Summary and conclusion......Page 136
References......Page 137
Introduction......Page 144
Definition of ‘assembly rule’......Page 145
Problem 1: The difficulty in framing valid null models......Page 146
Problem 3: Environmental patchiness......Page 148
Problem 4: Spatial autocorrelation......Page 150
Variance in richness......Page 151
Large-scale distributions......Page 154
Limiting similarity......Page 157
Texture convergence......Page 160
Guild proportionality......Page 163
Intrinsic guilds......Page 165
Biomass constancy......Page 167
Evenness......Page 168
Shape of the relative abundance distribution (RAD)......Page 171
The way forward......Page 172
Acknowledgments......Page 173
References......Page 174
Introduction: assembly rules, scale, purpose and application......Page 179
Island distributions and nestedness......Page 181
The mid-sized islands......Page 182
Forest species......Page 183
Shoreline species......Page 185
Edge species......Page 186
Background......Page 187
Mulga bushland and healthland in Australia......Page 192
Overall species composition and diversity......Page 195
Oak woodland woodpeckers......Page 199
Oak woodland flycatchers......Page 200
Insectivorous bird communities......Page 203
Birds in grass-sagebrush, Grand Teton National Park......Page 205
The emberizid sparrows......Page 207
The paruline warblers......Page 212
Conclusions......Page 216
References......Page 217
Introduction......Page 220
Language considerations......Page 221
Historical considerations......Page 225
The choice of system used to search for assembly rules......Page 227
Constraints on community structure of the Niagara Escarpment......Page 230
Results......Page 233
Significance......Page 238
Conclusions......Page 239
References......Page 240
Part II: Other perspectives on community assembly......Page 245
An assembly perspective......Page 247
Assembly as a general mechanic of nature......Page 249
The levels of assembly......Page 250
Ecological consequences of non-linearity......Page 252
Evidence for self-organization......Page 255
Probabilistic elements of assembly......Page 256
Elements of a general theory of assembly......Page 259
Prospectus......Page 260
References......Page 262
Introduction......Page 265
Null models and consistent patterns of assembly......Page 267
Trait–environment linkages......Page 270
Communities as energy dissipating systems......Page 273
Using trait–environment patterns as assembly rules......Page 275
An optimization model for community assembly......Page 277
Results of the simulation model......Page 279
Conclusions......Page 281
References......Page 283
Introduction......Page 286
A focal species model of island biogeography......Page 288
Linkage to the focal species model......Page 296
Assembly and nestedness of insular communities......Page 297
The species–area relationship......Page 299
The species–isolation relationship......Page 303
Patterns in species richness: summary......Page 305
The inter-taxa and inter-archipelago scales......Page 307
Species interactions and realized insular distributions......Page 309
Case studies: effects of competition and predation on IDFs......Page 313
Summary of the hierarchical model......Page 318
Conclusions......Page 319
References......Page 321
Introduction......Page 325
Stream fish life history types and species......Page 327
Relationship of first year survival to stream discharge......Page 329
Predation intensities......Page 330
Simulation experiments......Page 331
Relative success of invader life histories under a range of physical and biological conditions......Page 332
Simulation of invasion into the stream fish community......Page 333
Model validation......Page 334
Competition......Page 335
Assembly scenarios......Page 337
Model predictions and field observations: Martis Creek......Page 341
Model predictions and field observations – Sagehen Creek......Page 342
Assembly and invasion of stream fish communities......Page 345
Life history–environment interactions......Page 346
Implications of the model for the concept of assembly rules......Page 347
References......Page 348
Introduction......Page 352
Filters and trait–environment linkages at different scales......Page 353
Climate change and changing filters......Page 354
Plant traits and ecosystem function......Page 355
Plant functional types......Page 357
Climatic variations along a regional gradient......Page 358
Climatic conditions as filters......Page 359
Patterns in vegetative traits......Page 365
Trait–environment linkages, FTs, and ecosystem function......Page 367
Predicting ecosystem function under changing climatic conditions......Page 369
Concluding remarks......Page 370
References......Page 371
Introduction......Page 377
On getting structure......Page 378
Secondary succession or community assembly?......Page 379
What does the theory of community assembly tell us?......Page 380
Restoration as ecological experimentation......Page 381
The literature base......Page 383
Classifying the goals......Page 384
All goals met but management continues......Page 385
Management stops but not all goals are met......Page 386
Results......Page 387
Discussion......Page 389
References......Page 391
Appendix......Page 392
References......Page 401
Introduction......Page 407
The end of a great era: global exploration......Page 408
The beginning of a new era: the search for causation......Page 409
The search for assembly rules......Page 412
Rising to the challenge......Page 414
References......Page 415
Index......Page 417