ABSTRACT A formidable many-body problem in ecology is to understand the complex of factors controlling patterns of relative species abundance (RSA) in communities of interacting species.

Unlike many problems in physics, the nature of the interactions in ecological communities is not completely known. Although most contemporary theories in ecology start with the basic premise

that species interact, here we show that a theory in which all interspecific interactions are turned off leads to analytical results that are in agreement with RSA data from tropical

forests and coral reefs. The assumption of non-interacting species leads to a sampling theory for the RSA that yields a simple approximation at large scales to the exact theory. Our results

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subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS SPECIES RICHNESS AND IDENTITY BOTH DETERMINE THE BIOMASS OF GLOBAL REEF FISH COMMUNITIES

Article Open access 25 November 2021 THE POPULATION SIZES AND GLOBAL EXTINCTION RISK OF REEF-BUILDING CORAL SPECIES AT BIOGEOGRAPHIC SCALES Article 01 March 2021 META-ANALYSIS REVEALS WEAK

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Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank D. Alonso for bringing some key references to our attention and for spending an enormous amount of time in helping improve our

paper. We thank D. Thomas, G. Chuyong and D. Kenfack for the data from Korup National Park, Cameroon; R. Valencia, R. Foster and R. Condit for the data from Yasuni Natinal Park, Ecuador; S.

Davies, S. Tan, J. LaFrankie and P. Ashton for the data from Lambir Hills National Park, Sarawak; N. Supardi, P. Ashton and J. LaFrankie for the data from Pasoh Forest Reserve, Peninsular

Malaysia; and Hubbell’s collaborators on the Barro Colorado Island plot, R. Foster and R. Condit. We also thank S. Davies for directing and coordinating the global programs of the Center for

Tropical Forest Science (CTFS), which manages the plots, S. Loo for data management, and I. Rubinoff, Director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the host institution of CTFS.

The fieldwork has also received long-term support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, Earthwatch, Frank Levinson and the Celera Foundation, and

other private foundations and individual donors. We thank S. Connolly, M. Dornelas and T. Hughes for sending us the coral-reef data. This work was supported by COFIN 2005 and by the NSF.

AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Physics, 104 Davey Laboratory, Igor Volkov & Jayanth R. Banavar * Department of Biology, Center for Infectious Disease

Dynamics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA, Igor Volkov * Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of California, Los

Angeles, California 90095, USA, Stephen P. Hubbell * The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Unit 0948, APO AA 34002, Panama Stephen P. Hubbell * Dipartimento di Fisica ‘G. Galilei’,

Università di Padova CNISM and INFN, via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy, Amos Maritan Authors * Igor Volkov View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google

Scholar * Jayanth R. Banavar View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Stephen P. Hubbell View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Amos Maritan View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Jayanth R. Banavar

or Amos Maritan. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY EQUATIONS The file contains

Supplementary Equations which show derivation of Eq.(2) for the joint RSA of two local communities comprising the metacommunity. (PDF 87 kb) RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Volkov, I., Banavar, J., Hubbell, S. _et al._ Patterns of relative species abundance in rainforests and coral reefs. _Nature_ 450, 45–49 (2007).

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06197 Download citation * Received: 08 June 2007 * Accepted: 24 August 2007 * Issue Date: 01 November 2007 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06197 SHARE THIS

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