messDiv

Alpha/Beta Modelling group

relate alpha/beta/gamma diversity from an evolutionary neutral model

• 3 part paper
  • simple abstract spatially implicit model (analytical)
  • spatially explicit model
  • Emperical example
• Discussion about the kinds of data we might need
  • Is this kink driven mainly by ecology or mainly by evolution
  • The data might be a little tricky to maintain
  • In HI the islands are different age, but we need multiple islands that are the same ish age
  • Ideally plot level data (abundance of taxa)
  • Maybe piece together data from the austral islands, the galapagos, and cichlids

Alpha/Beta empirical group

• How to represent evolutionary diversity within the system,
  • reltaive contribution of evolutionary diversity to alhpa and gamma
  • extremes - spatial threshold of whether or not insitu contributes to R at gamma scale and how
  • hotspots provide a different problem, how much diversification has happened over time. Time is the proxy for evolutionary contribution of diversification.
• Class systems into one category or the other
  • integrate area component and time component?
  • leaning toward a meta-approach
  • Look for effect size with slightly different predictors?
• How to standardize plot sampling to reduce area driven sampling effects?
  • Islands with vastly different sizes will have size driven diversity patterns that could interfere
  • Looking at patterns that arise from HI trees for example and how to account for area scaling effects
• Definitions for in situ diversification (to make sure what constitutes within island speciation actually is agreed on by data contributors).
• If you have 20 or 100 plots across an area instead of 10 plots and you average them are you really averaging the same thing? this is the scaling problem.

“Maybe I’m too stuck in Hawaii.”

“Stratification: good in sampling bad in society.”

Abundance/Diversification: Why Radiate?

• What’s the relationship between local and global abundance, abundance and range size, and different kinds of rarity, how does this impact persistence?
• RElate this to other questios? Speciation slow-downs (birth-death gives one answer, zero sum gives another)
• Theoretical analysis:
  • Neutral model - Fragmented metacommunity and look at per capita speciation rate, how does fragmentation impact speciation rate
  • Habitat patches connected by migration and relation to abundance and speciation rate correlation.
  • Larger ranges come from more abundant species because there are more individuals to diffuse
• Empirical analysis:
  • Looked at some HI data.
  • Abundance/Diversity correlation? Does abundance drive or dampen speciation?
  • Heterogeneity: If there’s heterogeneity, then widespread species might be more likely to diversify.
  • Looking at Ne instead of sample abundance.
• Low hanging fruit: Island diversification compared to mainland diversification
  • Sampling clades from island and mainland to ask whether islands are exceptional w/ respect to mainlands.
  • Sister clade radiation propensity
  • Thinking about looking at birds and plants because of the volume of data.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t been done.” “Well it hasn’t been done by us.”

General Chatter

“There’s no way the snail crawled up the volcano.”

“The island looks huge if you’re a nematode.”

“We’re six minutes late, but that’s Berkeley early….”