Stochastic processes play more important roles in driving the dynamics of rarer species

Abstract

Aims One major goal of modern community ecology is to understand how deterministic and stochastic processes combine to drive community assembly. However, little empirical knowledge is known about how their relative importance varies between common and rare species. Methods We exploited two 30-year data sets of plant communities in a temperate steppe using two different methods. One is a null model method, and the other is a recently developed direct-calculation method. Important Findings We found that stochastic processes tended to be more important in influencing rare than common species. This finding suggests that stochastic forces may play a more important role in structuring communities with more rare species, providing a possible solution to the debate on the varied importance of deterministic and stochastic processes among different communities.