Spatial patterns in the tropical forest reveal connections between negative feedback, aggregation and abundance

TL;DR

This study investigates how negative feedback and aggregation influence spatial patterns in tropical forests, revealing that negative feedback dominates at small scales and both processes are linked to species abundance, suggesting a bottom-up control mechanism.

Contribution

It uncovers the relationship between negative feedback, aggregation, and species abundance in tropical forests, highlighting their interconnected roles in spatial pattern formation.

Findings

Negative feedback dominates at short spatial scales.

Aggregation characterizes large-scale spatial patterns.

Both feedback and aggregation scales relate to species abundance.

Abstract

The spatial arrangement of trees in a tropical forest reflects the interplay between aggregating processes, like dispersal limitation, and negative feedback that induces effective repulsion among individuals. Monitoring the variance-mean ratio for conspecific individuals along length-scales, we show that the effect of negative feedback is dominant at short scales, while aggregation characterizes the large-scale patterns. A comparison of different species indicates, surprisingly, that both aggregation and negative feedback scales are related to the overall abundance of the species. This suggests a bottom-up control mechanism, in which the negative feedback dictates the dispersal kernel and the overall abundance.