Abstract
The results of an earlier effort to provide a geometrical analysis of Hutchinsonian niche space are extended. The concept of diversity of a species in niche space is introduced and the maximization of this diversity provides a rationale for a within-niche fitness distribution which is Gaussian. Niche expansion is seen as a consequence of diffusion in niche space, and an evolutionary version of the Volterra competition equations is proposed as a way to relate niche geometry with population dynamics. Applications to topics in community evolution, species packing and the statistical fitting of species abundance data are mentioned.
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Rogers, T.D. Diversity and diffusion in multidimensional niche space. Bltn Mathcal Biology 41, 129–138 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460873
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460873