Understanding diversity pattersn and their relation to fundamental niche differentiation among species

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Ecologists often make simplifying assumptions about the degree to which species that are found together within communities differ from one-another. Such assumptions are necessary because details concerning the ecologies of most species remain unknown. One widely held assumption, which stems from conventional niche theory, is that coexisting species are different enough that their respective distributions and abundances are governed primarily by the suitability of the local environment, and only minimally by competition with other species, or by regional-scale processes such as dispersal. In practice, this 'environmental determinism' assumption will be violated to varying degrees, and this has implications for both basic and applied ecology research. My research uses both data-mining techniques and computer simulations of ecological communities to ascertain when, where, and by how much we should expect the environmental determinism assumption to be violated. It also seeks to understand how violations of the environmental determinism assumption might affect the performance of predictive models in ecology, such as those used in global change research, and in environmental monitoring and assessment programs.