A spatially explicit model for tropical tree diversity patterns

TL;DR

This paper introduces a spatially explicit two-parameter model resembling the voter model to simulate and analyze macroecological patterns of tropical tree communities, validated against real census data from Panama.

Contribution

It presents a novel, optimized model that accurately reproduces observed tropical tree diversity and spatial distribution patterns from empirical data.

Findings

Model successfully reproduces species abundance distributions.

Simulations match spatial distribution patterns observed in BCI data.

Provides a quantitative tool for macroecological analysis.

Abstract

A complex two-parameter model resembling the classical voter model is introduced to describe macroecological properties of tropical tree communities. Monte-Carlo type computer simulations are performed on the model, investigating species abundances and the spatial distribution of individuals and species. Simulation results are critically compared with the experimental data obtained from a tree census on a 50 hectares area of the Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. The model parameters are optimized for reproducing quantitatively the experimental results from the BCI dataset.