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journal article Nov 28, 2017

You don’t belong here: explaining the excess of rare species in terms of habitat, space and time

Luciano F. Sgarbi Adriano S. Melo
Oikos Vol. 127 No. 4 pp. 497-506 · Wiley
View at Publisher Save 10.1111/oik.04855
Abstract
Ecological communities are composed of a few common and several rare species. Many studies have evaluated the shape of abundance distribution curves, but few studies have assessed the causes of rarity. Using a dataset of stream macroinvertebrates, we investigated whether the excess of rare species in three focal communities of stones in riffles were common 1) in other habitats at the same stream site and period of sampling (environment), 2) in other stream sites in the same habitat and period of sampling (space), and 3) in other years in the same stream site and habitat (time). We observed that around 28% of the rare species were common in other habitats (environment), stream sites (space) or years (time). Among the three factors, rarity was mostly explained by habitat type, whereas a significant portion of the rare species in riffles were common in pools, submerged roots of terrestrial plants or in partially submerged moss patches. This result suggests that the presence in non‐optimum habitat is a strong determinant of the rarity observed in natural communities and most rare species are due to sampling artifacts or accidentally sampled transient species.
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Cited By
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Variation in coral-associated cryptofaunal communities across spatial scales and environmental gradients

Chelsie W. W. Counsell, Megan J. Donahue · 2018

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Metrics
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Citations
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References
Details
Published
Nov 28, 2017
Vol/Issue
127(4)
Pages
497-506
License
View
Authors
L
Luciano F. Sgarbi

Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Inst. de Ciências Biológicas, Univ. Federal de Goiás, Goiânia CEP 74001‐970 Goiás Brazil

A
Adriano S. Melo

Depto de Ecologia Inst. de Ciências Biológicas, Univ. Federal de Goiás, Goiânia Goiás Brazil

Funding
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico Award: CNPq, 307479/2011-0 and 309412/2014-5
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado São Paulo Award: Fapesp, 02/12538-0
Cite This Article
Luciano F. Sgarbi, Adriano S. Melo (2017). You don’t belong here: explaining the excess of rare species in terms of habitat, space and time. Oikos, 127(4), 497-506. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.04855
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