We use metapopulation models based on a classic competition-colonization trade-off in order to (1) study community responses to spatially structured habitat loss on dynamic landscapes when species are assembled by ecological (biogeographic) processes; and (2) to study how species are assembled into communities by evolutionary mechanisms. In the first part of our study we show how the response of species richness to habitat destruction in dynamic landscapes can be driven by the existence of either the spatial structure of habitat dynamics or by life-history trade-offs among species. In the second part of our study we confirm that competitive trade-off models predict runaway evolution towards stochastic extinction, making it impossible for stable multispecies assemblages to evolve. We demonstrate that by relaxing the strict deterministic nature of competitive exclusion in such models species can avoid selection towards extinction, allowing for the possibility of species co-evolution resulting in stable multispecies assemblages.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.101164 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Pillay, Pradeep. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | © Pradeep Pillay, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002593718, proquestno: AAIMR32773, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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