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Species coexistence through simultaneous fluctuation-dependent mechanisms.

Andrew D Letten^1,2, Manpreet K Dhami^3,4, Po-Ju Ke³

¹Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5020; andrewletten@gmail.com.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|June 14, 2018

Summary

Environmental fluctuations drive species coexistence through two key mechanisms: the temporal storage effect and relative nonlinearity of competition. This study demonstrates that relative nonlinearity is crucial, often equal to or greater than the storage effect, for maintaining biodiversity.

Keywords:

coexistence environmental variability relative nonlinearity resource competition storage effect

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Theoretical Biology

Background:

Biodiversity maintenance is a central challenge in biology.
Environmental variability is theorized to promote species coexistence.
Experimental evidence for fluctuation-driven coexistence is limited, often neglecting relative nonlinearity of competition.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally quantify the relative contributions of the temporal storage effect and relative nonlinearity of competition to species coexistence.
To test the importance of relative nonlinearity, a mechanism often overlooked in empirical studies.
To investigate the interplay between these two coexistence mechanisms.

Main Methods:

Utilized a nectar yeast system for experimental investigation.
Combined laboratory experiments with computational simulations.
Developed resource competition models parameterized from single-species assays.

Main Results:

Resource competition models accurately predicted mixed-culture outcomes (83% accuracy).
Both temporal storage effect and relative nonlinearity were found to significantly impact species coexistence.
Relative nonlinearity's contribution to coexistence was equal to or greater than the temporal storage effect.

Conclusions:

Challenges the assumption that relative nonlinearity is negligible in species coexistence.
Highlights the importance of considering both temporal storage effect and relative nonlinearity in combination.
Provides empirical support for the role of relative nonlinearity in maintaining biodiversity under fluctuating conditions.