Seminar "How can so many species coexist? An exploration of space and ecological interactions"
2nd session “The Alfred Wallace Seminar Series” organized by Rui Nabeiro Biodiversity Chair (MED-UÉvora)
“How can so many species coexist? An exploration of space and ecological interactions” by David García-Callejas (University of Canterbury)
April 4th | 14h by ZOOM (Link HERE).
Abstract: Understanding how multiple species coexist in natural communities is, despite the apparent simplicity of the question, astonishingly complex. Theory predicts that when resources are limited, dominant species will end up out-competing others, severely limiting biodiversity. Therefore, ecologists predict that there exist mechanisms in natural communities for preventing this dominance, allowing species to differentiate from one another in different dimensions. I will discuss, based on theory and observations from a species-rich Mediterranean grassland, how two factors can help understand the local coexistence of multiple species: the different types of interactions in which species engage, and the spatial dimension of these interactions.