ISSN:
1573-5052
Keywords:
Community concept
;
Direct-gradient analysis
;
Individualistic concept
;
Hypothesis: falsification
;
Wetland
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Abstract This study reformulates the community-unit and individualistic concepts of plant communities as hypotheses concerning the distribution of species' boundaries along a gradient. These hypotheses are tested by an analysis of deviance on data derived from a direct-gradient analysis of a freshwater marsh plant community in Breckenridge, Quebec, Canada. Boundaries are clustered at certain intervals along the gradient (p〈0.001), contradicting the individualistic hypothesis. Upper boundaries are not consistently clustered at the same intervals as lower boundaries (p〈0.001), contradicting the community-unit hypothesis. Thus, neither of the two usual models of community structure explain the patterns found in Breckenridge Marsh, suggesting that the historical dichotomy is too limited. Hypotheses of pattern should be tested using inferential statistics. Hypotheses of mechanism should be tested by experimentation. The way out of the community-unit vs. individualistic community debate is to deny the dichotomy and to consider multiple working hypotheses of community structure.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00038686
