Age-abundance relationships for neutral communities

TL;DR

This paper provides a detailed analysis of how species abundance relates to age in neutral community models, offering explicit formulas and discussing their universality and applicability.

Contribution

It introduces explicit formulas for age-abundance relationships in fixed-size and growing communities, advancing understanding of species dynamics in neutral models.

Findings

Derived formulas for average and most likely species age given abundance

Provided the full probability distribution of species age for different community types

Discussed the universality and applicability of these results to real ecological communities

Abstract

Neutral models for the dynamics of a system of competing species are used, nowadays, to describe a wide variety of empirical communities. These models are used in many situations, ranging from population genetics and ecological biodiversity to macroevolution and cancer tumors. One of the main issues discussed within this framework is the relationships between the abundance of a species and its age. Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of the age-abundance relationships for fixed-size and growing communities. Explicit formulas for the average and the most likely age of a species with abundance $n$ are given, together with the full probability distribution function. We further discuss the universality of these results and their applicability to the tropical forest community.