Biodiv Sci ›› 2022, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (10): 22410.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2022410

Special Issue: 物种形成与系统进化

• Reviews •     Next Articles

Theoretical advances in biodiversity research

Shaopeng Wang1,*(), Mingyu Luo1, Yanhao Feng2, Chengjin Chu3, Dayong Zhang4   

  1. 1. Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing 100871
    2. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture 6 Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020
    3. School of Ecology, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275
    4. Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875
  • Received:2022-07-19 Accepted:2022-09-26 Online:2022-10-20 Published:2022-10-11
  • Contact: Shaopeng Wang

Abstract:

Background & Aims: Biodiversity is a key feature of ecosystem complexity. Understanding the origination and maintenance of biodiversity has been a major task of theoretical ecology research. Here we reviewed recent advances in theoretical studies on biodiversity.
Progresses: We first summarized recent progress in modern coexistence theory and process-based community assembly theory. We then synthetized different approaches for inferring the presence and strengths of species interactions. Lastly, we introduced the general framework of eco-evolutionary models and their applications in biodiversity research.
Prospects: We ended with a brief discussion on future developments of biodiversity theory, particularly in integrating processes across scales and predicting biodiversity responses to global changes.

Key words: species coexistence, community assembly, species interactions, eco-evolutionary dynamics