Superorganisms or loose collections of species? A unifying theory of community patterns along environmental gradients.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Liautaud K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6642053 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Superorganisms or loose collections of species? A unifying theory of community patterns along environmental gradients.
Liautaud Kevin K van Nes Egbert H EH Barbier Matthieu M Scheffer Marten M Loreau Michel M
Ecology letters 20190527 8
The question whether communities should be viewed as superorganisms or loose collections of individual species has been the subject of a long-standing debate in ecology. Each view implies different spatiotemporal community patterns. Along spatial environmental gradients, the organismic view predicts that species turnover is discontinuous, with sharp boundaries between communities, while the individualistic view predicts gradual changes in species composition. Using a spatially explicit multispec ...[more]
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