Neutral clustering in a simple experimental ecological community.

The spatial distribution of most species in ecosystems is nonuniform. New theories try to explain patterns observed at multiple scales in terms of neutral processes such as birth, death, and migration. We have devised an experimental, niche-free ecosystem where the amplitude of neutral patchiness can be precisely measured. Spatial distribution of species in this system is extremely clustered. We demonstrate that this clustering is entirely attributed to neutral causes and show that the most basic properties of life can provoke intricate spatial structures without clues from the environment.

[1]  Dawn M. Kaufman,et al.  THE GEOGRAPHIC RANGE: Size, Shape, Boundaries, and Internal Structure , 1996 .

[2]  鈴木 増雄.  Time-Dependent Statistics of the Ising Model , 1965 .

[3]  Stephen P. Hubbell,et al.  Beta-Diversity in Tropical Forest Trees , 2002, Science.

[4]  Ian P. Woiwod,et al.  Density-dependence of spatial behavior and rarity of randomness , 1978 .

[5]  Timothy H Keitt,et al.  Species diversity in neutral metacommunities: a network approach. , 2007, Ecology letters.

[6]  B. Bolker,et al.  Using Moment Equations to Understand Stochastically Driven Spatial Pattern Formation in Ecological Systems , 1997, Theoretical population biology.

[7]  James G. Mitchell,et al.  High-Resolution Fluorometer for Mapping Microscale Phytoplankton Distributions , 2006, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[8]  Virginia Gewin,et al.  Beyond Neutrality—Ecology Finds Its Niche , 2006, PLoS biology.

[9]  W. R. Young,et al.  Reproductive pair correlations and the clustering of organisms , 2001, Nature.

[10]  B. Houchmandzadeh,et al.  Clustering in neutral ecology. , 2003, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[11]  F. Siegert,et al.  Null mutations of the Dictyostelium cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase gene block chemotactic cell movement in developing aggregates. , 1997, Developmental biology.

[12]  Stephen P. Hubbell,et al.  Neutral theory in community ecology and the hypothesis of functional equivalence , 2005 .

[13]  P. White,et al.  The distance decay of similarity in biogeography and ecology , 1999 .

[14]  B. Houchmandzadeh.  Clustering of diffusing organisms. , 2002, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[15]  David Kenfack,et al.  A general framework for the distance–decay of similarity in ecological communities , 2008, Ecology letters.

[16]  S. Levin,et al.  Diffusion and Ecological Problems: Modern Perspectives , 2013 .

[17]  M. McPeek,et al.  Coexistence of the niche and neutral perspectives in community ecology. , 2006, Ecology.

[18]  R. Muneepeerakul,et al.  Neutral metacommunity models predict fish diversity patterns in Mississippi–Missouri basin , 2008, Nature.

[19]  Richard Fox,et al.  Spatial patterns in species distributions reveal biodiversity change , 2004, Nature.

[20]  R. Solé,et al.  Metapopulation dynamics and spatial heterogeneity in cancer , 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[21]  G. Bell.  Neutral macroecology. , 2001, Science.

[22]  Editors , 1986, Brain Research Bulletin.

[23]  Adrian P. Martin,et al.  The kaleidoscope ocean , 2005, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[24]  M. Turner.  Landscape ecology: what is the state of the science? , 2005 .