The effect of environmental heterogeneity on species richness depends on community position along the environmental gradient.

ABSTRACT: Environmental heterogeneity is among the most important factors governing community structure. Besides the widespread evidence supporting positive relationships between richness and environmental heterogeneity, negative and unimodal relationships have also been reported. However, few studies have attempted to test the role of the heterogeneity on species richness after removing the confounding effect of resource availability or environmental severity. Here we constructed an individual-based spatially explicit model incorporating a long-recognized tradeoff between competitive ability and stress-tolerance ability of species. We explored the impact of the level of resource availability (i.e. the position of the community along a gradient of environmental severity) on the heterogeneity-diversi

SUBMITTER: Yang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4623746 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature