Limitations of Current Neutral Models of Biodiversity
Author Information
Author(s): Etienne Rampal S., Rosindell James
Primary Institution: University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Hypothesis
Can a spatially explicit model be approximated by a spatially implicit model in biodiversity studies?
Conclusion
Current spatially explicit neutral models have limited descriptive power compared to spatially implicit models.
Supporting Evidence
- The spatially implicit model often fits species abundance data remarkably well.
- The spatially explicit model struggles to access parts of parameter space that the spatially implicit model can fit.
- Fatter-tailed dispersal kernels may improve the fit of spatially explicit models.
Takeaway
This study looks at two ways to model biodiversity and finds that one way works better than the other, but both have their problems.
Methodology
The study compared spatially explicit and implicit models by fitting them to simulated data and analyzing their parameters.
Limitations
The spatially explicit model does not fit observed species-abundance distributions as well as the spatially implicit model.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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