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Multiple domains of attraction in competition communities

Nature volume 261, pages 40–42 (1976)Cite this article

Abstract

ECOLOGISTS typically explain the absence of a species in an area by searching for ultimate climatic or physical factors that limit its distribution or favour its competitors. The possibility that the system is not in equilibrium—that colonisation has not occurred—is not normally considered. Even less appreciated is that there may be a number of alternative stable equilibrium communities which may develop in a given area and that the final outcome may depend solely or partially on historical factors such as the sequence and numbers in which each species colonises. Here we investigate the theoretical possibility of this proposition for competition communities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093

    MICHAEL E. GILPIN

  2. Department of Entomology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, 95616

    TED J. CASE

Authors
  1. MICHAEL E. GILPIN
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  2. TED J. CASE
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GILPIN, M., CASE, T. Multiple domains of attraction in competition communities. Nature 261, 40–42 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261040a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/261040a0

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