Founder takes all: density-dependent processes structure biodiversity.

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Biogeography

Background:

• Density-dependent processes are crucial for spatial biodiversity structuring.
• Demographic factors like gene surfing, high-density blocking, and competitive exclusion create geographic contrasts in species and gene distributions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a unifying "founder takes all" density-dependent principle.
• To explain diverse biogeographic patterns, including postglacial recolonization, island colonization, microbial sectoring, and human expansion, as fundamentally similar phenomena.

Main Methods:

• The study proposes a theoretical framework based on existing evolutionary and ecological principles.
• It synthesizes patterns from various biogeographic events to identify common underlying mechanisms.

Main Results:

• Identifies the "founder takes all" principle as a core driver of density-dependent biogeographic patterns.
• Demonstrates the applicability of this principle across diverse scenarios, from microbial growth to human migration.
• Hypothesizes that human-mediated extinctions reveal historical density-dependent constraints through rapid range expansions of surviving taxa.

Conclusions:

• Density-dependent processes, unified by the "founder takes all" principle, provide a powerful explanation for observed biogeographic patterns.
• This principle offers insights into both natural recolonization and human-driven ecological shifts.
• Understanding these processes is vital for predicting biodiversity responses to environmental change and extinction events.