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Ecology

Contests between species aid biodiversity

Nature volume 548, pages 166–167 (2017)Cite this article

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A modelling approach used to investigate competition between different species provides insight into how contests that have multiple players can help to maintain biodiversity. See Letter p.210

How and why do distinct species coexist? Even in the case of closely related organisms competing for a set of common resources — such as different tree species competing for space, light and nutrients — we still don't have a complete answer to this fundamental question. On page 210, Grilli et al.1 report their analysis of a theoretical framework that might illuminate this debate.

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Figure 1: Modelling competition between species to understand biodiversity.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, 61801, Illinois, USA

    James P. O'Dwyer

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  1. James P. O'Dwyer
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Correspondence to James P. O'Dwyer.

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O'Dwyer, J. Contests between species aid biodiversity. Nature 548, 166–167 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23103

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