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OOS-49: Scaling species abundance, distribution, and diversity: From pattern to
process
Thursday,
August 11, 1:30 PM - 5 PM, Meeting Rooms 511a and 511d, Level 5, Palais
des congrès de Montréal
Organizers:
William Kunin (w.e.kunin@leeds.ac.uk),
Helen Lewis
Description:
There
is growing interest in the analysis of the spatial properties of species
distributions across scales. Populations are typically aggregated at all scales,
and much progress has been made applying multi-scale spatial models to describe
and predict them. The focus of this session is to take the next conceptual step,
and to begin exploring the processes that help govern such spatial
distributions. We will examine spatial patterns in the physical environment and
thus in the abiotic component of habitat distributions. We will then explore how
the scaling properties of colonisation and of local extinction processes can
reshape the scaling properties of that subset of habitat that is occupied by a
species. Population density is intrinsically scale dependent, and the
scale-specificity of density dependent processes may create a feedback loop to
further shape population scaling. The scaling patterns of different interacting
populations may, in turn, determine the scaling properties of species
interactions and influence coexistence patterns. These, in turn, may help
explain the scaling patterns of multispecies assemblages and communities,
ultimately building up to the oldest and best know scaling pattern: the Species
Area Relationship.
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