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Lumpy species coexistence arises robustly in fluctuating resource environments.

Athanasia Sakavara1,2, George Tsirtsis3, Daniel L Roelke4,5

  • 1Department of the Environment, University of the Aegean, Mytilene 81100, Greece.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|December 22, 2017
PubMed
Summary

Resource fluctuations drive species to cluster along trait axes, creating "lumpy coexistence." This ecological pattern, driven by dynamic resource availability, is common in nature.

Keywords:
community structurecompetitionenvironmental fluctuationslife-history traitsspecies clumps

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Theoretical Ecology
  • Mathematical Biology

Background:

  • Resource competition is a key driver of ecological community structure.
  • Most natural systems experience resource fluctuations (e.g., seasonality, tidal cycles), unlike simplified models.
  • Understanding how these fluctuations impact species interactions is crucial for predicting community composition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of fluctuating resource supply on interspecies competition outcomes.
  • To model how dynamic resource availability shapes species coexistence and community structure.
  • To explain the ecological phenomenon of "lumpy coexistence" observed in natural systems.

Main Methods:

  • Adaptation of a well-established resource-competition model.
  • Simulation of fluctuating inflow concentrations for two limiting resources.
  • Analysis of emergent community structure and resource dynamics over time.

Main Results:

  • Fluctuating resource supply led to species survival in clumps along a trait axis, supporting the
  • lumpy coexistence
  • hypothesis.
  • A complex dynamic pattern in available resources emerged early, creating niches that favored species with specific traits.
  • Clump formation was robust across variations in periodicity, phase differences, and amplitude of resource fluctuations.

Conclusions:

  • Resource fluctuations, not just constant supply, significantly influence ecological community organization.
  • The model demonstrates that fluctuating resource dynamics can generate niche differentiation and promote clumped species distributions.
  • The findings suggest that clumped assemblage organization is a common ecological feature due to widespread asynchronous resource fluctuations in nature.