由Stephen Hubbell在2001年首次論述的生物多樣性“中性”理論，通過(guò)采用認(rèn)為每個(gè)個(gè)體和每個(gè)物種都有相同的行為方式,、與物種互動(dòng)或物種歷史無(wú)關(guān)的簡(jiǎn)化假設(shè),，成功預(yù)測(cè)了很多人們所觀察到的生態(tài)多樣性模式,。
本期Nature介紹了中性理論的一種新形式，增添了將有性生殖,、突變和擴(kuò)散等因素考慮在內(nèi)的內(nèi)容,。這一新模型在很多層面上來(lái)模擬現(xiàn)實(shí)，與從包括巴拿馬灌叢到堪薩斯哺乳動(dòng)物化石在內(nèi)的材料獲得的真實(shí)數(shù)據(jù)非常相符,。這些結(jié)果還表明,，生物多樣性可以在沒(méi)有具體物理障礙的條件下出現(xiàn)——這種情況與在繁忙車流中所觀察到的現(xiàn)象相似：只要有交通，就可能發(fā)生交通堵塞,，并不需要明顯的原因。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Nature 460, 384-387 (16 July 2009) | doi:10.1038/nature08168
Global patterns of speciation and diversity
M. A. M. de Aguiar1,2, M. Baranger1,3, E. M. Baptestini2, L. Kaufman1,4 & Y. Bar-Yam1
1 New England Complex Systems Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
2 Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Unicamp, Campinas, S?o Paulo 13083-970, Brazil
3 University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA
4 Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
In recent years, strikingly consistent patterns of biodiversity have been identified over space, time, organism type and geographical region1, 2. A neutral theory (assuming no environmental selection or organismal interactions) has been shown to predict many patterns of ecological biodiversity2, 3. This theory is based on a mechanism by which new species arise similarly to point mutations in a population without sexual reproduction. Here we report the simulation of populations with sexual reproduction, mutation and dispersal. We found simulated time dependence of speciation rates, species–area relationships and species abundance distributions consistent with the behaviours found in nature1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. From our results, we predict steady speciation rates, more species in one-dimensional environments than two-dimensional environments, three scaling regimes of species–area relationships and lognormal distributions of species abundance with an excess of rare species and a tail that may be approximated by Fisher's logarithmic series. These are consistent with dependences reported for, among others, global birds4 and flowering plants5, marine invertebrate fossils6, ray-finned fishes7, British birds8, 9 and moths10, North American songbirds11, mammal fossils from Kansas12 and Panamanian shrubs13. Quantitative comparisons of specific cases are remarkably successful. Our biodiversity results provide additional evidence that species diversity arises without specific physical barriers6, 11, 14. This is similar to heavy traffic flows, where traffic jams can form even without accidents or barriers15.
