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Asymmetric relationships and their effects on coexistence
  • Pimsupa Albert,
  • Daniel Reuman
Pimsupa Albert
University of Kansas
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Daniel Reuman
University of Kansas

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Species coexistence attracts wide interest in ecology. Modern coexistence theory (MCT) identifies coexistence mechanisms, one of which, storage effects, hinges on relationships between fluctuations in environmental and competitive pressures. However, such relationships are typically measured using covariance, which does not account for the possibility that environment and competition may be more related to each other when they are strong than when weak, or vice versa. Recent work showed that such ‘asymmetric tail associations’ (ATAs) are common between ecological variables, and are important for extinction risk, ecosystem stability, and other phenomena. We extend the MCT, decomposing storage effects to show the influence of ATAs. Analysis of a simple model and an empirical example using diatoms illustrate that ATA influences can be comparable in magnitude to other mechanisms of coexistence, and that ATAs can make the difference between species coexistence and competitive exclusion. ATA influences are an important new mechanism of coexistence.
26 May 2023Submitted to Ecology Letters
30 May 2023Submission Checks Completed
30 May 2023Assigned to Editor
30 May 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
31 May 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
29 Jun 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Major
03 Aug 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
03 Aug 20231st Revision Received
04 Aug 2023Submission Checks Completed
04 Aug 2023Assigned to Editor
08 Aug 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
06 Sep 2023Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
26 Sep 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
26 Sep 20232nd Revision Received
29 Sep 2023Submission Checks Completed
29 Sep 2023Assigned to Editor
29 Sep 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned
03 Oct 2023Editorial Decision: Accept