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Neutral Hypotheses and Patterns of Species Diversity: Fact or Artifact?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

William R. Thomas  and
Theodore C. Foin
William R. Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics and Group in Ecology, University of California, Davis, California 95616
Theodore C. Foin
Affiliation:
Division of Environmental Studies, University of California, Davis, California 95616
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Abstract

Species diversity is a product of both biological interactions and physical-geographic factors. A model which eliminates biological interactions as a determinant of diversity can be used to assess the potential impact of physical and geographic factors operating alone on temporal trends in diversity (succession) and on spatial differences along latitudinal or environmental gradients. If a biologically neutral model can generate diversity patterns similar to those we observe, it can be argued that traditional hypotheses which depend on biological interactions are not the most parsimonious explanations for diversity patterns. If the neutral model approach supports a spectrum of possible hypotheses, perhaps the entire concept of species diversity can be discarded as a useful measure of community structure.

An earlier analysis of this type supported the notion that diversity patterns can be adequately explained by physical disturbance, global geography gradients, and stochastic immigration and extinction events. Our neutral model analysis does not affirm this view. We argue that the coarse level at which simple colonization models operate does not permit strong conclusions regarding the underlying mechanisms. Detailed community analyses may provide the best evidence for the nature of structuring processes. Based on the evidence available in the literature, species diversity is likely to be generated by a small number of biological processes interacting with physical-geographic gradients.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Winter 1982 , pp. 45 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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