Thread by @altermatt_lab

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!