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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Robustness and limitations of maximum entropy in plant community assembly
Ecological Informatics, Vol.86, pp.1-15
2025
Abstract
An in-depth understanding of local plant community assembly is critical to direct conservation efforts to promising areas and increase the efficiency of management strategies. This, however, remains elusive due to the sheer complexity of ecological processes. The maximum entropy-based Community Assembly via Trait Selection (CATS) model was designed to quantify the relative contributions of trait-based filtering, dispersal mass effects, and stochastic processes on community assembly. As a maximum entropy model, it does so without introducing additional bias or assumptions. Despite its increasing use, questions regarding its robustness and potential limitations remain. Here, we compared model predictions using either local or database-derived trait values, across different levels of species richness and between different taxonomic levels. A total of 19 datasets and 790 plots were analysed, spanning multiple habitat types (n = 18) and biomes (n = 7). Results indicate trait value origin does indeed influence model outcomes, warranting caution in selecting the method for obtaining trait data. We hypothesise that, for example, intraspecific trait variation combined with trait-based filtering or stochastic processes causes local and database trait values to deviate, potentially even further exacerbated by imputing missing trait data. Furthermore, trait-related information obtained from the model decreased with increasing species richness. We further hypothesise this could signal that stochastic processes are more dominant within species-rich systems, for example, due to functional redundancy or the existence of multiple fitness strategies. This general pattern was conserved across biomes, although with varying strength, showing CATS’ robustness despite these challenges.
Details
- Title
- Robustness and limitations of maximum entropy in plant community assembly
- Authors
- Jelyn Gerkema (Corresponding Author) - Utrecht UniversityDaniel E. Bunker - New Jersey Institute of TechnologyAndrew M. Cunliffe - University of ExeterErika Bazzato - University of CagliariMichela Marignani - University of CagliariTommaso Sitzia - University of PaduaIsabelle Aubin - Canadian Forest ServiceStefano Chelli - Università di CamerinoJulieta A. Rosell - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoPeter Poschlod - University of RegensburgJosep Penuelas - Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UABArildo S. Dias - Goethe University FrankfurtChristian Rossi - Swiss National ParkTanvir A. Shovon - Northern Alberta Institute of TechnologyJuan A. Campos - University of the Basque CountryMark C. Vanderwel - University of ReginaSharif A. Mukul - United International UniversityBruno E.L. Cerabolini - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le DéveloppementThomas Sibret - Ghent UniversityBruno Hérault - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le DéveloppementSylvain Schmitt - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le DéveloppementPedro Higuchi - Universidade do Estado de Santa CatarinaJames L. Tsakalos - Murdoch UniversityDecky I. Junaedi - Research Centre for Ecology and Ethnobiology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), IndonesiaYun-Peng Zhao - Zhejiang UniversityVanessa Minden - Vrije Universiteit BrusselAna Carolina da Silva - Universidade do Estado de Santa CatarinaTereza Mašková - Friedrich Schiller University JenaRoberto Canullo - Università di CamerinoNing Dong - Imperial College LondonEdwin T. Pos - Utrecht University
- Publication details
- Ecological Informatics, Vol.86, pp.1-15
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2025.103031
- ISSN
- 1878-0512; 1574-9541
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).
- Data Availability
- R scripts are available on the GitHub repository of Jelyn Gerkema ( https://github.com/JGerkema/CATS_robustness_limitations).
- Organisation Unit
- Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991127100302621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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