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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Theoretical Ecology
  • Community Ecology

Background:

  • The relationship between ecological community feasibility and stability is debated.
  • Previous studies offered conflicting conclusions on the likelihood of stable community assembly.
  • The role of parameter space in intrinsic growth rates was underestimated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of intrinsic growth rate parameterization on community feasibility and stability.
  • To clarify the debate surrounding random species assembly and community stability.
  • To explore the influence of species abundance distribution on community stability.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of the parameter space of intrinsic growth rates in randomly-assembled communities.
  • Simulation of small-scale ecological communities with varying parameterizations.
  • Statistical examination of the relationship between feasibility, stability, and species abundance distributions.

Main Results:

  • Not all parameterizations of intrinsic growth rates yield consistent probabilities of stability and feasibility.
  • Stability filters species abundances towards more even distributions in small, feasible communities.
  • The origin of the debate stems from underestimating the link between growth rates and community properties.

Conclusions:

  • Community stability is intrinsically linked to the initial distribution of species abundances.
  • Systematic exploration of the feasible parameter space is crucial for general conclusions on community stability.
  • Experimental designs should incorporate species abundance distributions to study community stability.