Spatial scaling laws yield a synthetic theory of biodiversity
Article Abstract:
Ecologists are still seeking common principles to predict well-known responses of biological diversity to different factors. Such patterns can occur from simple constraints on how organisms acquire resources in space. Spatial scaling laws were used to describe how different sized species seek food in areas of varying size and resource concentration. A mathematical rule for the minimum similarity in size of the species that share the resources was then derived, yielding a theory of diversity that predicts links between diversity and productivity more efficiently than previous models.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1999
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Adaptive radiation in a heterogeneous environment
Article Abstract:
Successive adaptive radiations have played an important role in the evolution of biological diversity. The role of ecological opportunity and competition in driving genetic diversification is examined, using the common aerobic bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens. Identical populations diversify morphologically when given ecological opportunity, but there is no such divergence when ecological opportunity is restricted. A predictable sequence is seen in the evolution of variant morphs in spatially structured environments.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1998
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