The role of competition in tree communities is increasingly well understood, while little is known about the patterns and mechanisms of the interplay between above- and belowground competition in tree communities. This knowledge, however, is crucial for a better understanding of community dynamics and developing adaptive near-natural management strategies. We assessed neighbourhood interactions...

An individual-based, spatially explicit stochastic lattice model, CAPS, was designed to examine multiple processes responsible for spatial patterns of abundance and diversity of sessile species in heterogeneous landscapes. Species simulated by CAPS differ in habitat preferences (niche width), dispersal of propagules, and relative fecundity. The spatial distribution of habitat types are represen...

In this review we argue that relatively recent evolutionary adaptations that are relational or psychological in nature might refocus, dampen, or otherwise shape hormonal processes related to evolutionarily Bolder^ behaviors. We focus on the steroid hormones testosterone and estradiol and discuss a) their associations with Bolder relational processes^ such as mate competition, dominance and nurt...

Spatial patterns in trait variation reflect underlying community assembly processes, allowing us to test hypotheses about their trait and environmental drivers by identifying the strongest correlates of characteristic spatial patterns. For 43 evergreen tree species (> 1 cm dbh) in a 20-ha seasonal tropical rainforest plot in Xishuangbanna, China, we compared the ability of drought-tolerance tra...

Telecommunications privatization, competition, liberalization, and regulatory independence in several countries have been embarked with the goals of maximizing universal access to telecommunications services as a developmental goal, promoting efficiency through competition and establishment of world class telecommunications networks. Using interview data from India and China –the two countrie...

An individual-based model (IBM) was developed to examine the effects of intraspecific competition and spatial structuring of food on life history traits of grasshoppers inhabiting temperate-zone grasslands. Each individual carried real-valued genes which determined size of offspring and size at maturity, and which were passed on to its offspring. Size at maturity was a plastic trait, depending ...

Across species, there is usually a positive relationship between sperm competition level and male reproductive effort on ejaculates, typically measured using relative testes size (RTS). Within populations, demographic and ecological processes may drastically alter the level of sperm competition and thus, potentially affect the evolution of testes size. Here, we use longitudinal records (across ...

Assortative mating promotes reproductive isolation and allows allopatric speciation processes to continue in secondary contact. As mating patterns are determined by mate preferences and intrasexual competition, we investigated male-male competition and behavioral isolation in simulated secondary contact among allopatric populations. Three allopatric color morphs of the cichlid fish Tropheus wer...

Although an interspecific trade-off between competitive and colonizing ability can permit multispecies coexistence, whether this mechanism controls the structure of natural systems remains unresolved. We used models to evaluate the hypothesized importance of this trade-off for explaining coexistence and relative abundance patterns in annual plant assemblages. In a nonspatial model, empirically ...

Trade-offs in performance of different ecological functions within a species are commonly offered as an explanation for co-existence in natural communities. Single trade-offs between competitive ability and other life history traits have been shown to support a large number of species, as a result of strong competitive asymmetry. We consider a single competition-fecundity trade-off in a homogen...