Evidence that niche specialization explains species-energy relationships in lake fish communities

The Journal of Animal Ecology
Norman W H MasonChristine Argillier

Abstract

1. Interspecific niche differences have long been identified as a major explanation for the occurrence of species-rich communities. However, much fieldwork studying variation in local species richness has focused upon physical habitat attributes or regional factors, such as the size of the regional species pool. 2. We applied indices of functional diversity and niche overlap to data on the species niche to examine the importance of interspecific niche differentiation for species richness in French lake fish communities. We combined this information with environmental data to test generalizations of the physiological tolerance and niche specialization hypotheses for species-energy relationships. 3. We found evidence for a largely non-saturating relationship (relative to random expectation) between species richness and functional evenness (evenness of spacing between species in niche space), while functional richness (volume of niche space occupied) peaked at moderate levels of species richness and niche overlap showed an initial decrease followed by saturation. This suggests that increased niche specialization may have allowed species to coexist in the most species-rich communities. 4. We tested for evidence that increased tempe...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 24, 2013·Ecology and Evolution·Jean-François Ponge
Mar 20, 2013·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Zhifeng DingPing Ding
Jan 28, 2014·The New Phytologist·Andreas SchuldtOliver Purschke
Jan 30, 2015·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·Brian G Laub, Phaedra Budy
Oct 19, 2016·Scientific Reports·Elpida K KaradimouPanayotis Dimopoulos
Oct 27, 2016·Stem Cells·Adam L MacLeanMichael P H Stumpf
Dec 16, 2010·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·S Pavoine, M B Bonsall
Jun 23, 2011·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Lars GötzenbergerMartin Zobel
Jul 12, 2017·Science Advances·Felipe S CamposMirco Solé
Nov 20, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Zhigang MaoErik Jeppesen
Dec 31, 2019·The Science of the Total Environment·Valérie DavidChristine Dupuy

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