4.1 Article

Resource spectrum engineering by specialist species can shift the specialist-generalist balance

Journal

THEORETICAL ECOLOGY
Volume 13, Issue 2, Pages 149-163

Publisher

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s12080-019-00436-8

Keywords

Coexistence; Generalist; Specialist; Resource spectrum; Metacommunity model

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The mechanisms which influence coexistence of specialist and generalist species in the same environment are a key focus of ecological theory. We use an agent-based model of community assembly to show that the available resource spectrum (distribution of resources along a niche axis) can play an important role in determining the specialist-generalist balance, even in the absence of spatial structure. Our results reveal a phenomenon that we term 'resource spectrum engineering', in which opportunistic specialists occupying small niches in a mostly generalist community can change the resource spectrum that is experienced by other species, in a way that disfavours generalists and causes a community-wide shift towards specialist strategies. More generally, this suggests a mechanism by which apparently minor changes in the specialist composition of an ecological community could have knock-on effects across the entire community.

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