Background The palm family occurs in all tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world.
Palms are of high ecological and economical importance, and display complex spatial …

It has been actively discussed recently what statistical methods are appropriate when one is
interested in testing hypotheses about the origin of beta diversity, especially whether one …

The processes controlling the abundances of species across multiple sites form the
cornerstone of modern ecology. In these metacommunities, the relative importance of local …

Biological similartiy typically decreases with geographical distance. Despite the recent
attention to the distance decay relationship, there is no consensus on how the relationship …

In this essay, I argue that the seemingly indestructible concept of the community as a local,
interacting assemblage of species has hindered progress toward understanding species …

The relative importance of contemporary climate and history as controls of geographical
diversity patterns is intensely debated. A key example is the controversy over the extent to …

We assess the potential of different forms of variation partitioning to distinguish between
environmental control and dispersal limitation in communities structured by combinations of …

Summary 1 Many authors have suggested that topography and soils are the major
determinants of species distributions and community patterns at small or regional scales, but …

Aim Conservation and land‐use planning require accurate maps of patterns in species
composition and an understanding of the factors that control them. Substantial doubt exists …

Summary 1 The relative importance of niche‐and dispersal‐mediated processes in
structuring diverse tropical plant communities remains poorly understood. Here, we link …