Trait-based community assembly / Assemblage des communautés par des traits

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A community of plant species consists of all those species occurring together in an area small enough to allow individuals of these species to interact. The "rules" that determine which species will not be found together, which will be found together, and which of these species will be dominant or rare, are termed "assembly rules". The objective of this research program is to test and refine a mathematical model that I have previously developed that specifies these assembly rules in mathematical form. The model uses a method from statistical physics (Maximum Entropy Formalism) using community-averaged values of plant functional traits. These average traits are derived from the principle of natural selection and from quantitative genetics. One important extension of the model is to extend it to ecosystem processes such as decomposition rates, carbon cycling and nutrient leeching. As such, this proposed synthetic research program incorporates methods and results from physiological and functional ecology, from statistical physics (Maximum Entropy Formalism), from quantitative genetics, and from community ecology. When completed, it will provide quantitative predictions of community and ecosystem processes.