Coexistence in spatiotemporally fluctuating environments

TL;DR

This paper extends Modern Coexistence Theory to analyze ecological communities affected by both spatial and temporal environmental fluctuations, enabling better understanding of coexistence mechanisms using realistic models and data.

Contribution

It introduces a methodology to quantify the importance of multiple coexistence mechanisms in communities with spatiotemporal environmental variation, expanding current theory.

Findings

Method to analyze communities with spatiotemporal fluctuations

Tools to parse importance of spatial vs. temporal variation

Approach to measure coexistence mechanisms with models and data

Abstract

Ecologists have put forward many explanations for coexistence, but these are only partial explanations; nature is complex, so it is reasonable to assume that in any given ecological community, multiple mechanisms of coexistence are operating at the same time. Here, we present a methodology for quantifying the relative importance of different explanations for coexistence, based on an extension of Modern Coexistence Theory. Current versions of Modern Coexistence Theory only allow for the analysis of communities that are affected by spatial or temporal environmental variation, but not both. We show how to analyze communities with spatiotemporal fluctuations, how to parse the importance of spatial variation and temporal variation, and how to measure everything with either mathematical expressions or simulation experiments. Our extension of Modern Coexistence Theory allows empiricists to use realistic models and more data to better infer the mechanisms of coexistence in real communities.