Lumpy species coexistence arises robustly in fluctuating resource environments

Sakavara, Athanasia, Tsirtsis, George, Roelke, Daniel L., Mancy, Rebecca and Spatharis, Sofie 2017. Lumpy species coexistence arises robustly in fluctuating resource environments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115 (4) , pp. 738-743. 10.1073/pnas.1705944115

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Abstract

The effect of life-history traits on resource competition outcomes is well understood in the context of a constant resource supply. However, almost all natural systems are subject to fluctuations of resources driven by cyclical processes such as seasonality and tidal hydrology. To understand community composition, it is therefore imperative to study the impact of resource fluctuations on interspecies competition. We adapted a well-established resource-competition model to show that fluctuations in inflow concentrations of two limiting resources lead to the survival of species in clumps along the trait axis, consistent with observations of “lumpy coexistence” [Scheffer M, van Nes EH (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103:6230–6235]. A complex dynamic pattern in the available ambient resources arose very early in the self-organization process and dictated the locations of clumps along the trait axis by creating niches that promoted the growth of species with specific traits. This dynamic pattern emerged as the combined result of fluctuations in the inflow of resources and their consumption by the most competitive species that accumulated the bulk of biomass early in assemblage organization. Clumps emerged robustly across a range of periodicities, phase differences, and amplitudes. Given the ubiquity in the real world of asynchronous fluctuations of limiting resources, our findings imply that assemblage organization in clumps should be a common feature in nature.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Medicine Research Institutes & Centres > Centre for Trials Research (CNTRR)
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences
ISSN:	0027-8424
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	5 November 2025
Date of Acceptance:	21 November 2017
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2025 11:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182118

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