Pervasive within-species spatial repulsion among adult tropical trees

Michael Kalyuzhny*, Jeffrey K. Lake, S. Joseph Wright, Annette M. Ostling

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

For species to coexist, performance must decline as the density of conspecific individuals increases. Although evidence for such conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) exists in forests, the within-species spatial repulsion it should produce has rarely been demonstrated in adults. In this study, we show that in comparison to a null model of stochastic birth, death, and limited dispersal, the adults of dozens of tropical forest tree species show strong spatial repulsion, some to surprising distances of approximately 100 meters. We used simulations to show that such strong repulsion can only occur if CNDD considerably exceeds heterospecific negative density dependence—an even stronger condition required for coexistence—and that large-scale repulsion can indeed result from small-scale CNDD. These results demonstrate substantial niche differences between species that may stabilize species diversity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)563-568
Number of pages6
JournalScience
Volume381
Issue number6657
DOIs
StatePublished - 4 Aug 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.

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