Niche overlap reveals the effects of competition, disturbance and contrasting assembly processes in experimental grassland communities

1. Understanding the processes by which species sort themselves into communities remains a central puzzle for attempts to maintain biodiversity. It remains unclear whether any single assembly process is generally dominant or whether the influence of contrasting processes varies in a predictable way relative to biotic and abiotic gradients. Abundance‐weighted niche overlap between species provides a powerful means of contrasting two major assembly processes – niche complementarity and environmental filtering.

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