Abstract:
Species\' traits and interactions are products of evolutionary history. Despite the long-standing hypothesis that closely related species possess similar traits, and thus experience stronger competition, measuring the effect of evolutionary history on the ecology of natural communities remains challenging. We propose a novel framework to test whether phylogeny influences patterns of coexistence and abundance of species assemblages. In our approach, phylogenetic trees are used to parameterize species\' interactions, which in turn determine the abundance of species in a given assemblage. We use likelihoods to score models parameterized with a given phylogeny, and contrast them with models built using random trees, allowing us to test whether phylogenetic information helps to predict species\' abundances. Our statistical framework reveals that interactions are indeed structured by phylogeny in a large set of experimental plant communities. Our results confirm that evolutionary history can help predict, and potentially manage or conserve, the structure and function of complex ecological communities.
摘要:
物种特征和相互作用是进化史的产物。尽管长期以来的假设认为密切相关的物种具有相似的特征,从而经历更激烈的竞争,衡量进化历史对自然群落生态的影响仍然具有挑战性。我们提出了一个新的框架来测试系统发育是否会影响物种组合的共存模式和丰度。在我们的方法中,系统发育树用于参数化物种相互作用,这反过来又决定了给定组合中物种的丰度。我们使用可能性对具有给定系统发育参数的模型进行评分,并将它们与使用随机树构建的模型进行对比,允许我们测试系统发育信息是否有助于预测物种的丰度。我们的统计框架表明,在大量实验植物群落中,相互作用确实是由系统发育构成的。我们的结果证实了进化史可以帮助预测,并有可能管理或保护,复杂生态群落的结构和功能。