With our new-found insight into the structure and dynamics of communities, today we’ll revisit one of the central questions in ecology: why do some places have more species than others?

• A simple way to consider this is in terms of how to pack more species in an ecosystem
  • This can occur by expanding the niche axes (these might be resources OR conditions)
  • Each species can narrow its utilization within the available niche space
  • Species can minimize overlap within the niche space
  • Even the smallest gaps within niche space can be filled (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc8zCSQxBhM)
• Island biogeography seeks to explain patterns of species richess in terms of the dynamic processes that form communities — i.e. establishment and extinction
  • The balance of establishment and extinction predict stable patterns of species richness, though not necessarily stable community compositions