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Do communities exist? Complex patterns of overlapping marine species distributions

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 02:09 authored by Leaper, R, Dunstan, PK, Foster, SD, Neville BarrettNeville Barrett, Graham EdgarGraham Edgar
Understanding the way in which species are associated in communities is a fundamental question in ecology. Yet there remains a tension between communities as highly structured units or as coincidental collections of individualistic species. We explored these ideas using a new statistical approach that clusters species based on their environmental response: a species archetype, rather than clustering sites based on their species composition. We found groups of species that are consistently highly correlated, but that these groups are not unique to any set of locations and overlap spatially. The species present at a single site are a realization of species from the (multiple) archetype groups that are likely to be present at that location based on their response to the environment.

Funding

Department of Environment and Energy (Cwth)

History

Publication title

Ecology

Volume

95

Issue

7

Pagination

2016-2025

ISSN

0012-9658

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Ecological Soc Amer

Place of publication

1707 H St Nw, Ste 400, Washington, USA, Dc, 20006-3915

Rights statement

Copyright 2014 Ecological Society of America

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Marine biodiversity

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