Developing a Theory of Global Biodiversity

Abstract

This chapter develops a body of theory to capture and test the key processes governing the global distribution of biodiversity. From this theory, it devises a spatial metacommunity model that enables the reconstruction of documented patterns of species richness from first principles and the prediction of their major features. The chapter starts with a simple, flexible, and tractable framework that can be built on and expanded in order to test competing hypotheses. This modeling approach may be described as an experimental toolbox for global biodiversity patterns. The aim is not necessarily to achieve the highest predictive power, but to explore the possibility space of global biodiversity patterns and their drivers.