Neutral Theory: A New, Unified Model for Ecology

Abstract

Abstract In evolutionary time, species come and go. In ecological time—anything from days to decades or even centuries—most species, in most places, persist. They do so in complex networks of local communities and extended metacommunities, within and between which even similar and closely related species may vary greatly in abundance. And while processes such as invasion and succession sometimes bring about a rapid reordering of the biological status quo for a particular site or region, species more typically maintain themselves in fairly constant numbers, neither taking over everything, like kudzu, nor dwindling to nothing, like the dodo.