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Download fileHow Likely Is Speciation in Neutral Ecology?
journal contribution
posted on 2014-04-15, 00:00 authored by Philippe Desjardins-Proulx, Dominique GravelPatterns of biodiversity predicted by the neutral theory rely on a simple phenomenological model of speciation. To further investigate the effect of speciation on neutral biodiversity, we analyze
a spatially explicit neutral model based on population genetics. We define the metacommunity as a system of populations exchanging migrants, and we use this framework to introduce speciation with
little or no gene flow (allopatric and parapatric speciation). We find
that with realistic mutation rates, our metacommunity model driven by neutral processes cannot support more than a few species. Adding natural selection in the population genetics of speciation increases
the number of species in the metacommunity, but the level of diversity found in the Barro Colorado Island is difficult to reach.