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http://hdl.handle.net/10662/7260
Title: | Social information use by competitors: resolving the enigma of species coexistence in animals? |
Authors: | Parejo Mora, María Deseada Avilés Regodón, Jesús Miguel |
Keywords: | Organización de la comunidad;Exclusión competitiva;Solapamiento de nicho;Interacciones positivas;Información social;Community organization;Competitive exclusion;Niche overlap;Positive interactions;Social information |
Issue Date: | 2016 |
Publisher: | Ecological Society of America |
Abstract: | The competitive exclusion principle states that species limited by the same factors cannot share the same environment. Challenging this paradigm, empirical studies often report competitors’ coexistence in natural communities, which has long puzzled evolutionary ecologists. Theoretical studies on animal communities have conferred a prime role to the negative effects of interactions in explaining coexistence, but largely neglected the potential positive side of interactions. Here, we propose that living close to a competitor could have beneficial aspects because competitors may provide fitness-enhancing social information, which under some circumstances may counter the negative effects of competition, thus promoting coexistence. We use conceptual models and discuss factors influencing social information use and their influence on the outcome of competitors’ interaction in terms of coexistence probability. Finally, we discuss ecological and evolutionary implications of these processes and suggest exciting avenues for future research on animal communities. |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10662/7260 |
ISSN: | 2150-8925 |
DOI: | 10.1002/ecs2.1295 |
Appears in Collections: | DABCZ - Artículos |
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ecs2_1295.pdf | 747,66 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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