Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Niche overlap as a function of environmental variability.

R M May, R H MacArthur

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    |May 1, 1972
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Related Concept Videos

    You might also read

    Related Articles

    Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

    Sort by
    Same author

    How much do we know about the current extinction rate?

    Trends in ecology & evolution·2011
    Same author

    Palaeoecology and ecology.

    Trends in ecology & evolution·2011
    Same author

    Graeme Caughley and the emerging science of conservation biology.

    Trends in ecology & evolution·2011
    Same author

    Applications of fractals in ecology.

    Trends in ecology & evolution·2011
    Same author

    Parasitoid theory: Against manichaeism.

    Trends in ecology & evolution·2011
    Same author

    Cerebral regeneration induced by simultaneous intraocular grafting of newborn cerebral tissue and sciatic nerve in the mouse.

    The Anatomical record·2010

    Environmental variability limits niche overlap for competing species. Even with fluctuating resources, adjacent species must maintain a minimum difference in average resource use, a finding supported by bird guild studies.

    Area of Science:

    • Ecology
    • Evolutionary Biology
    • Theoretical Biology

    Background:

    • Species compete for resources along a continuum, such as food size.
    • In stable environments, niche overlap can be extensive, approaching complete congruence.
    • Understanding niche overlap is crucial for community structure and biodiversity.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the impact of environmental variability on niche overlap in competing species.
    • To determine if fluctuating environments impose limits on niche overlap.
    • To quantify the relationship between environmental stochasticity and resource partitioning.

    Main Methods:

    • Developed a mathematical model for biological communities competing on a one-dimensional resource spectrum.
    • Simulated species interactions under varying degrees of environmental fluctuation (stochasticity).

    Related Experiment Videos

  • Analyzed the average resource use of adjacent species in relation to environmental variance.

    • Main Results:

    • In deterministic environments, unlimited niche overlap is possible.
    • In stochastic environments, adjacent species' average resource sizes must differ by approximately the standard deviation of individual resource use.
    • This limit on niche overlap is robust across a wide range of environmental fluctuations (0.01% to 30% variance).

    Conclusions:

    • Environmental fluctuations impose an effective limit on niche overlap in real-world ecosystems.
    • This limit is largely insensitive to the degree of environmental fluctuation, except in extreme cases.
    • Model findings align with recent field observations, particularly in avian guilds.