Microbes are typically surrounded by different strains and species with whom they compete
for scarce nutrients and limited space. Given such challenging living conditions, microbes …

Recent functional trait studies have shown that trait differences may favour certain species
(environmental filtering) while simultaneously preventing competitive exclusion (niche …

Hutchinson's n‐dimensional hypervolume concept for the interpretation of niches as
geometric shapes has provided a foundation for research across different fields of ecology …

Modern coexistence theory and contemporary niche theory represent parallel frameworks
for understanding the niche's role in species coexistence. Despite increasing prominence …

There is considerable debate about whether community ecology will ever produce general
principles. We suggest here that this can be achieved but that community ecology has lost its …

Biodiversity of phytoplankton is important for ecosystem stability and marine
biogeochemistry. However, the large-scale patterns of diversity are not well understood and …

Predominant frameworks for understanding plant ecology have an aboveground bias that
neglects soil micro-organisms. This is inconsistent with recent work illustrating the …

Grasslands, in particular managed pastures and rangelands, are widespread, covering
approximately 40%(52 million km²) of the Earth's land surface. They are dominated by …

The tissue traits and architectures of plant species are important for land-plant ecology in
two ways. First, they control ecosystem processes and define habitat and resources for other …

Human activities are enriching many of Earth's ecosystems with biologically limiting mineral
nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). In grasslands, this enrichment generally …