Our new paper @PNASNews is addressing a long-standing question in #ecology, #biodiversity sciences and #conservation biology:
How do multiple #species #coexist in fragmented landscapes?
A 🧵on multispecies coexistence: pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn… (1/7)
2/7 Spatially #fragmented #landscapes are very common, both naturally & through human activities.
In such landscapes, a combination of local survival and #colonization of empty habitat patches is key to species' regional persistence.
3/7 However, ecological #theory on species coexistence has so far largely focused on local communities.
By integrating #coexistence theory and #metacommunity theory, we propose a mathematical framework to understand multiple species' coexistence in fragmented landscapes.
4/7 We propose measures of #niche & #fitness differences for metacommunities, clarifying how spatial dynamics & habitat configuration interact w/ competition to determine coexistence of species.
They tell us when and how species can coexist in realistic landscape configurations.
5/7 Then parametrised a model in metacommunity of 3 #Daphnia species, covering >500 patches monitored over 36 years.
Our results illustrate emergence of interspecific variation in extinction and recolonization processes, including their dependencies on patch size & temperature.
6/7 This variation contributes to coexistence by reducing fitness differences and increasing nice differences between the 3 #Daphnia species.
Contrastingly, contemporary environmental change decreases probability of species coexistence and reduces #biodiversity.
7/7 The project is a wonderful collaboration w/ @Shaopeng_Wang85 & Mingyu Luo @PKU1898 Serguei Saavedra @MIT Dieter Ebert @UniBasel & myself @UZH_en @EawagResearch. Started thinking about this topic 15 years ago during my PhD @Tvarminne; happy to see it now sees the light of day!
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