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Title: Rebuilding community ecology from functional traits
Related: Trends in ecology and evolution, Vol. 21, Issue 4, p.178-185
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2006.02.002
Publisher: Elsevier Science
Date: 2006
Author/Creator: McGill, Brian J
Author/Creator: Enquist, Brian J
Author/Creator: Weiher, Evan
Author/Creator: Westoby, Mark
Description: There is considerable debate about whether community ecology will ever produce general principles. We suggest here that this can be achieved but that community ecology has lost its way by focusing on pairwise species interactions independent of the environment. We assert that community ecology should return to an emphasis on four themes that are tied together by a two-step process: how the fundamental niche is governed by functional traits within the context of abiotic environmental gradients; and how the interaction between traits and fundamental niches maps onto the realized niche in the context of a biotic interaction milieu. We suggest this approach can create a more quantitative and predictive science that can more readily address issues of global change.
Description: 8 page(s)
Subject Keyword: community ecology
Subject Keyword: fundamental niche
Subject Keyword: general principles
Subject Keyword: abiotic environmental gradients
Subject Keyword: biotic interaction milieu
Resource Type: journal article
Organisation: Macquarie University. Dept. of Biological Sciences

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