The DOI matches its Crossref record; 47 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
How variation between individuals affects species coexistence
Abstract
Although the effects of variation between individuals within species are traditionally ignored in studies of species coexistence, the magnitude of intraspecific variation in nature is forcing ecologists to reconsider. Compelling intuitive arguments suggest that individual variation may provide a previously unrecognised route to diversity maintenance by blurring species‐level competitive differences or substituting for species‐level niche differences. These arguments, which are motivating a large body of empirical work, have rarely been evaluated with quantitative theory. Here we incorporate intraspecific variation into a common model of competition and identify three pathways by which this variation affects coexistence: (1) changes in competitive dynamics because of nonlinear averaging, (2) changes in species’ mean interaction strengths because of variation in underlying traits (also via nonlinear averaging) and (3) effects on stochastic demography. As a consequence of the first two mechanisms, we find that intraspecific variation in competitive ability increases the dominance of superior competitors, and intraspecific niche variation reduces species‐level niche differentiation, both of which make coexistence more difficult. In addition, individual variation can exacerbate the effects of demographic stochasticity, and this further destabilises coexistence. Our work provides a theoretical foundation for emerging empirical interests in the effects of intraspecific variation on species diversity.
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Cited by
Drivers of individual niche variation in coexisting species
Costa‐Pereira, R., Rudolf, V. H. W., Souza, F. L., & Araújo, M. S. (2018) · Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2656.12879 · Cited by 98
Individualised niches: an integrative conceptual framework across behaviour, ecology, and evolution
Krüger, O., Anaya‐Rojas, J., Back, M., Caspers, B., Chakarov, N., Dammhahn, M., Elliott‐Graves, A., Fricke, C., Gadau, J., Hoffman, J. I., et al. (2026) · Biological Reviews · doi:10.1002/brv.70147 · Cited by 4
“Evidence is accumulating that individual variation matters in community ecology (Bolnick et al ., 2011; Barabas & D ’ Andrea, 2016; Hart, Schreiber & Levine, 2016; Kalirad & Sommer, 2024; Lichtenstein et al ., 2024) and that individual niche specialisation arises from the complex interplay between…”
Metadata
- Authors
- Hart, S. P., Schreiber, S. J., & Levine, J. M.
- Venue
- Ecology Letters
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-06-02
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 825-838
- ISSN
- 1461-023X (ISSN-L)
- 1461-0248
- OpenAlex
- W2463033474
- Cited by
- 316
- References
- 47
- FWCI
- 29.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (DMS‐1313418)
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