Work

Community assembly and the emergence of ecosystem pattern

Year: 2001

Type: article

Abstract: A fundamental problem challenging natural scientists is to understand how macroscopic patterns, such as population abundance distributions and element ratios, emerge and are sustained in ecosystems, given that evolution typically operates most strongly at the level of individuals and their genomes. How do such patterns persist in the face of evolutionary innovation? In this paper, we explore this issue through dynamical models of community assembly and metapopulation dynamics in dynamic landscapes, and discuss individual-based approaches to the control of element cycles.

Source: Scientia Marina

DOI: 10.3989/scimar.2001.65s2171

Authors: Simon A. Levin, Jonathan Dushoff, Juan E. Keymer

Institution: Princeton University

Language: English

Topic: Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: National Science Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Award: Biocomplexity: The Emergence of Ecosystem Pattern