Beta Diversity of Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Benthic Communities Reveals a Major Role of Stochastic Assembly Processes

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Nelson Valdivia, José Garcés-Vargas, Ignacio Garrido, Iván Gómez, Pirjo Huovinen, Nelso P. Navarro, Erasmo C. Macaya, Luis Miguel Pardo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
• Subjects: neutral drift; niche; null models; physiology; priority effects; spatial scale; Science; Q; General. Including nature conservation; geographical distribution; QH1-199.5; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Fildes; King George Island; Southern Ocean; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.780268; https://doaj.org/article/f188f015ef9f4c6cbfe2ff93ccc568ab

Community assembly is the result of both, deterministic and stochastic processes. The former encompasses niche-based local-scale mechanisms such as environmental filtering and biotic interactions; the latter includes ecological drift, probabilistic colonisation, and random extinctions. Using standar...