Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial scaling of species richness–productivity relationships for local communities: analytical results from a neutral model

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
Theoretical Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The relationship between species richness and productivity changes with spatial scale, but the way in which it changes and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We address this critical knowledge gap using a new mechanistic model of the spatial scaling of species richness–productivity (SP) relationships for a local community. Our model is neutral and hence assumes that species dynamics are driven by dispersal limitation and demographic stochasticity. We showed analytically that SP relationships predicted by our model are typically unimodal. Consistent with previous simulation-based studies, the positive phase of our unimodal SP relationship was driven by a sampling effect (“more-individuals effect”) whereas the negative phase was driven by relatively more propagules being of local as opposed to external origin (“dilution effect”). Our main novel finding related to the spatial scaling of the unimodal SP relationship: the peak shifted to the left with increasing spatial scale, such that the decreasing phase covered a greater range of productivity. This was driven by an increase in the strength of the dilution effect relative to the more-individuals effect, reflecting higher area/perimeter ratios at larger spatial scales. Our theoretical predictions are qualitatively consistent with the spatial scaling of SP relationships documented for trees in localized forest communities across the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aarssen LW (2004) Interpreting co-variation in species richness and productivity in terrestrial vegetation: making sense of causations and correlations at multiple scales. Folia Geobot 39(4):385–403

    Google Scholar 

  • Abrams PA (1988) Resource productivity–consumer species diversity: simple models of competition in spatially heterogeneous environments. Ecology 69(5):1418–1433

    Google Scholar 

  • Abrams PA (1995) Monotonic or unimodal diversity–productivity gradients: what does competition theory predict? Ecology 76(7):2019–2027

    Google Scholar 

  • Adler PB, Seabloom EW, Borer ET, Hillebrand H, Hautier Y, Hector A, Harpole WS, O'Halloran LR, Grace JB, Anderson TM, Bakker JD, Biederman LA, Brown CS, Buckley YM, Calabrese LB, Chu CJ, Cleland EE, Collins SL, Cottingham KL, Crawley MJ, Damschen EI, Davies KF, DeCrappeo NM, Fay PA, Firn J, Frater P, Gasarch EI, Gruner DS, Hagenah N, Hille Ris Lambers J, Humphries H, Jin VL, Kay AD, Kirkman KP, Klein JA, Knops JMH, la Pierre KJ, Lambrinos JG, Li W, MacDougall AS, McCulley RL, Melbourne BA, Mitchell CE, Moore JL, Morgan JW, Mortensen B, Orrock JL, Prober SM, Pyke DA, Risch AC, Schuetz M, Smith MD, Stevens CJ, Sullivan LL, Wang G, Wragg PD, Wright JP, Yang LH (2011) Productivity is a poor predictor of plant species richness. Science 333(6050):1750–1751

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Allouche O, Kadmon R (2009a) Demographic analysis of Hubbell’s neutral theory of biodiversity. J Theor Biol 258(2):274–280

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Allouche O, Kadmon R (2009b) A general framework for neutral models of community dynamics. Ecol Lett 12(12):1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Axmanová I, Chytrý M, Danihelka J, Lustyk P, Kočí M, Kubešová S, Horsák M, Cherosov MM, Gogoleva PA (2013) Plant species richness–productivity relationships in a low-productive boreal region. Plant Ecol 214(2):207–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Borda-de-Água L, Borges PAV, Hubbell SP, Pereira HM (2012) Spatial scaling of species abundance distributions. Ecography 35(6):549–556

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardinale BJ, Hillebrand H, Harpole WS, Gross K, Ptacnik R (2009a) Separating the influence of resource ‘availability’ from resource ‘imbalance’ on productivity–diversity relationships. Ecol Lett 12(6):475–487

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cardinale BJ, Bennett DM, Nelson CE, Gross K (2009b) Does productivity drive diversity or vice versa? A test of the multivariate productivity–diversity hypothesis in streams. Ecology 90(5):1227–1241

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cavanaugh KC, Gosnell JS, Davis SL, Ahumada J, Boundja P, Clark DB, Mugerwa B, Jansen PA, O'Brien TG, Rovero F, Sheil D, Vasquez R, Andelman S (2014) Carbon storage in tropical forests correlates with taxonomic diversity and functional dominance on a global scale. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 23(5):563–573

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS (1980) The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 11:233–260

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chase JM, Leibold MA (2002) Spatial scale dictates the productivity–biodiversity relationship. Nature 416(6879):427–430

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chisholm RA, Lichstein JW (2009) Linking dispersal, immigration and scale in the neutral theory of biodiversity. Ecol Lett 12(12):1385–1393

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chisholm RA, Muller-Landau HC, Abdul Rahman K, Bebber DP, Bin Y, Bohlman SA, Bourg NA, Brinks J, Bunyavejchewin S, Butt N, Cao H, Cao M, Cárdenas D, Chang LW, Chiang JM, Chuyong G, Condit R, Dattaraja HS, Davies S, Duque A, Fletcher C, Gunatilleke N, Gunatilleke S, Hao Z, Harrison RD, Howe R, Hsieh CF, Hubbell SP, Itoh A, Kenfack D, Kiratiprayoon S, Larson AJ, Lian J, Lin D, Liu H, Lutz JA, Ma K, Malhi Y, McMahon S, McShea W, Meegaskumbura M, Mohd. Razman S, Morecroft MD, Nytch CJ, Oliveira A, Parker GG, Pulla S, Punchi-Manage R, Romero-Saltos H, Sang W, Schurman J, Su SH, Sukumar R, Sun IF, Suresh HS, Tan S, Thomas D, Thomas S, Thompson J, Valencia R, Wolf A, Yap S, Ye W, Yuan Z, Zimmerman JK (2013) Scale-dependent relationships between tree species richness and ecosystem function in forests. J Ecol 101(5):1214–1224

    Google Scholar 

  • Chisholm RA, Lim F, Yeoh YS, Seah WW, Condit R, Rosindell J (2018) Species–area relationships and biodiversity loss in fragmented landscapes. Ecol Lett 21(6):804–813

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS, Silman M, Kern R, Macklin E, HilleRisLambers J (1999) Seed dispersal near and far: patterns across temperate and tropical forests. Ecology 80(5):1475–1494

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH (1978) Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199(4335):1302–1310

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fraser LH, Pither J, Jentsch A, Sternberg M, Zobel M, Askarizadeh D, Bartha S, Beierkuhnlein C, Bennett JA, Bittel A, Boldgiv B, Boldrini II, Bork E, Brown L, Cabido M, Cahill J, Carlyle CN, Campetella G, Chelli S, Cohen O, Csergo AM, Diaz S, Enrico L, Ensing D, Fidelis A, Fridley JD, Foster B, Garris H, Goheen JR, Henry HAL, Hohn M, Jouri MH, Klironomos J, Koorem K, Lawrence-Lodge R, Long R, Manning P, Mitchell R, Moora M, Muller SC, Nabinger C, Naseri K, Overbeck GE, Palmer TM, Parsons S, Pesek M, Pillar VD, Pringle RM, Roccaforte K, Schmidt A, Shang Z, Stahlmann R, Stotz GC, Sugiyama SI, Szentes S, Thompson D, Tungalag R, Undrakhbold S, van Rooyen M, Wellstein C, Wilson JB, Zupo T (2015) Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness. Science 349(6245):302–305

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gillman LN, Wright SD (2006) The influence of productivity on the species richness of plants: a critical assessment. Ecology 87(5):1234–1243

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grace JB, Anderson TM, Seabloom EW, Borer ET, Adler PB, Harpole WS, Hautier Y, Hillebrand H, Lind EM, Pärtel M, Bakker JD, Buckley YM, Crawley MJ, Damschen EI, Davies KF, Fay PA, Firn J, Gruner DS, Hector A, Knops JMH, MacDougall AS, Melbourne BA, Morgan JW, Orrock JL, Prober SM, Smith MD (2016) Integrative modelling reveals mechanisms linking productivity and plant species richness. Nature 529(7586):390–393

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1973) Competitive exclusion in herbaceous vegetation. Nature 242(5396):344–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1977) Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. Am Nat 111(982):1169–1194

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1979) Plant strategies and vegetation processes. John Wiley & Sons, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross K, Cardinale BJ (2007) Does species richness drive community production or vice versa? Reconciling historical and contemporary paradigms in competitive communities. Am Nat 170(2):207–220

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hodapp D, Hillebrand H, Blasius B, Ryabov AB (2016) Environmental and trait variability constrain community structure and the biodiversity–productivity relationship. Ecology 97(6):1463–1474

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbell SP (2001) The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston M (1979) A general hypothesis of species diversity. Am Nat 113(1):81–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston MA (1994) Biological diversity: the coexistence of species on changing landscapes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston MA, DeAngelis DL (1994) Competition and coexistence: the effects of resource transport and supply rates. Am Nat 144(6):954–977

    Google Scholar 

  • Kadmon R, Benjamini Y (2006) Effects of productivity and disturbance on species richness: a neutral model. Am Nat 167(6):939–946

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kondoh M (2001) Unifying the relationships of species richness to productivity and disturbance. P R Soc B 268(1464):269–271

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Levin SA, Muller-Landau HC, Nathan R, Chave J (2003) The ecology and evolution of seed dispersal: a theoretical perspective. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 34:575–604

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewandowska AM, Biermann A, Borer ET, Cebrián-Piqueras MA, Dederck SAJ, De Meester L,Van Donk E, Gamfeldt L, Gruner DS, Hagenah N, Harpole WS, Kirkman KP, Klausmeier CA, Kleyer M, Knops JMH, Lemmens P, Lind EM, Litchman E, Mantilla-Contreras J, Martens K, Meier S, Minden V, Moore JL, Venterink HO, Seabloom EW, Sommer U, Striebel M, Trenkamp A, Trinogga J, Urabe J, Vyverman W, Van de Waal DB, Widdicombe CE, Hillebrand H (2016) The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity–functioning relationship across ecosystems. Philos T R Soc B 371:20150283

    Google Scholar 

  • Loreau M, Naeem S, Inchausti P, Bengtsson J, Grime JP, Hector A, Hooper DU, Huston MA, Raffaelli D, Schmid B, Tilman D, Wardle DA (2001) Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294(5543):804–808

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mittelbach GG, Steiner CF, Scheiner SM, Gross KL, Reynolds HL, Waide RB, Willig MR, Dodson SI, Gough L (2001) What is the observed relationship between species richness and productivity? Ecology 82(9):2381–2396

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Dwyer JP, Green JL (2010) Field theory for biogeography: a spatially explicit model for predicting patterns of biodiversity. Ecol Lett 13(1):87–95

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • O’Dwyer JP, Cornell SJ (2018) Cross-scale neutral ecology and the maintenance of biodiversity. Sci Rep 8(1):10200

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Poorter L, van der Sande MT, Thompson J, Arets EJMM, Alarcón A, Álvarez-Sánchez J, Ascarrunz N, Balvanera P, Barajas-Guzmán G, Boit A, Bongers F, Carvalho FA, Casanoves F, Cornejo-Tenorio G, Costa FRC, de Castilho CV, Duivenvoorden JF, Dutrieux LP, Enquist BJ, Fernández-Méndez F, Finegan B, Gormley LHL, Healey JR, Hoosbeek MR, Ibarra-Manríquez G, Junqueira AB, Levis C, Licona JC, Lisboa LS, Magnusson WE, Martínez-Ramos M, Martínez-Yrizar A, Martorano LG, Maskell LC, Mazzei L, Meave JA, Mora F, Muñoz R, Nytch C, Pansonato MP, Parr TW, Paz H, Pérez-García EA, Rentería LY, Rodríguez-Velazquez J, Rozendaal DMA, Ruschel AR, Sakschewski B, Salgado-Negret B, Schietti J, Simões M, Sinclair FL, Souza PF, Souza FC, Stropp J, ter Steege H, Swenson NG, Thonicke K, Toledo M, Uriarte M, van der Hout P, Walker P, Zamora N, Peña-Claros M (2015) Diversity enhances carbon storage in tropical forests. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 24(11):1314–1328

    Google Scholar 

  • Preston FW (1960) Time and space and the variation of species. Ecology 41(4):612–627

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosindell J, Cornell SJ (2013) Universal scaling of species-abundance distributions across multiple scales. Oikos 122(7):1101–1111

    Google Scholar 

  • Schamp BS, Aarssen LW, Lee H (2003) Local plant species richness increases with regional habitat commonness across a gradient of forest productivity. Folia Geobot 38(3):273–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Schenk HJ, Jackson RB (2002) Rooting depths, lateral root spreads and below-ground/above-ground allometries of plants in water-limited ecosystems. J Ecol 90(3):480–494

    Google Scholar 

  • Simões NR, Colares MAM, Lansac-Tôha FA, Bonecker CC (2013) Zooplankton species richness–productivity relationship: confronting monotonic positive and hump-shaped models from a local perspective. Austral Ecol 38(8):952–958

    Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava DS, Lawton JH (1998) Why more productive sites have more species: an experimental test of theory using tree-hole communities. Am Nat 152(4):510–529

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Storch D, Bohdalková E, Okie J (2018) The more-individuals hypothesis revisited: the role of community abundance in species richness regulation and the productivity–diversity relationship. Ecol Lett 21(6):920–937

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor DR, Aarssen LW, Loehle C (1990) On the relationship between r/K selection and environmental carrying capacity: a new habitat templet for plant life history strategies. Oikos 58(2):239–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Thackeray SJ (2007) Crustacean zooplankton species richness and productivity: to what extent do the conclusions depend upon the choice of metric. Oikos 116(4):614–628

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D (1982) Resource competition and community structure. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D, Pacala S (1993) The maintenance of species richness in plant communities. In: Ricklefs RE, Schluter D (eds) Species diversity in ecological communities: historical and geographical perspectives. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA, pp 13–25

  • Tucker MA, Böhning-Gaese K, Fagan WF, Fryxell JM, Van Moorter B, Alberts SC, Ali AH, Allen AM, Attias N, Avgar T, Bartlam-Brooks H, Bayarbaatar B, Belant JL, Bertassoni A, Beyer D, Bidner L, van Beest FM, Blake S, Blaum N, Bracis C, Brown D, de Bruyn PJN, Cagnacci F, Calabrese JM, Camilo-Alves C, Chamaille-Jammes S, Chiaradia A, Davidson SC, Dennis T, DeStefano S, Diefenbach D, Douglas-Hamilton I, Fennessy J, Fichtel C, Fiedler W, Fischer C, Fischhoff I, Fleming CH, Ford AT, Fritz SA, Gehr B, Goheen JR, Gurarie E, Hebblewhite M, Heurich M, Hewison AJM, Hof C, Hurme E, Isbell LA, Janssen R, Jeltsch F, Kaczensky P, Kane A, Kappeler PM, Kauffman M, Kays R, Kimuyu D, Koch F, Kranstauber, B, LaPoint S, Leimgruber P, Linnell JDC, Lopez-Lopez P, Markham AC, Mattisson J, Medici EP, Mellone U, Merrill E, de Mirando Mourao G, Morato RG, Morellet N, Morrison TA, Diaz-Munoz SL, Mysterud A, Nandintsetseg D, Nathan R, Niamir A, Odden J, O’Hara RB, Oliveira-Santos LGR, Olson KA, Patterson BD, de Paula RC, Pedrotti L, Reineking B, Rimmler M, Rogers TL, Rolandsen CM, Rosenberry CS, Rubenstein DI, Safi K, Said S, Sapir N, Sawyer H, Schmidt NM, Selva N, Sergiel A, Shiilegdamba E, Silva JP, Singh N, Solberg EJ, Spiegel O, Strand O, Sundaresan S, Ullmann W, Voigt U, Wall J, Wattles D, Wikelski M, Wilmers CC, Wilson JW, Wittemyer G, Zieba F, Zwijacz-Kozica T, Mueller T (2018) Moving in the Anthropocene: global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements. Science 359(6374):466–469

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vilà M, Vayreda J, Comas L, Ibáñez JJ, Mata T, Obón B (2007) Species richness and wood production: a positive association in Mediterranean forests. Ecol Lett 10(3):241–250

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Volkov I, Banavar JR, Hubbell SP, Maritan A (2007) Patterns of relative species abundance in rainforests and coral reefs. Nature 450(7166):45–49

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waide RB, Willig MR, Steiner CF, Mittelbach G, Gough L, Dodson SI, Juday GP, Parmenter R (1999) The relationship between productivity and species richness. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 30:257–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Weitz JS, Rothman DH (2003) Scale-dependence of resource-biodiversity relationships. J Theor Biol 225(2):205–214

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wennekes PL, Rosindell J, Etienne RS (2012) The neutral–niche debate: a philosophical perspective. Acta Biotheor 60:257–271

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker RJ, Heegaard E (2003) What is the observed relationship between species richness and productivity? Comment. Ecology 84(12):3384–3390

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker RJ (2010) Meta-analyses and mega-mistakes: calling time on meta-analysis of the species richness–productivity relationship. Ecology 91(9):2522–2533

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright DH (1983) Species-energy theory: an extension of species-area theory. Oikos 41(3):496–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Yee DA, Juliano SA (2007) Abundance matters: a field experiment testing the more individuals hypothesis for richness–productivity relationships. Oecologia 153(1):153–162

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Matthew Luskin (Nanyang Technological University) and members of Chisholm Lab (National University of Singapore) for comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant to RAC from the James S. McDonnell Foundation (#220020470) and grants to SX from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (#41830321, 31870412, 31470492, 31670435).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117558, Singapore

    Tak Fung & Ryan A. Chisholm

  2. State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Sa Xiao

Authors
  1. Tak Fung
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sa Xiao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ryan A. Chisholm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ryan A. Chisholm.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(PDF 9.52 MB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fung, T., Xiao, S. & Chisholm, R.A. Spatial scaling of species richness–productivity relationships for local communities: analytical results from a neutral model. Theor Ecol 13, 93–103 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-019-0431-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-019-0431-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation