The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography

Rating:
Summary: Towards a unified thoery, but not there yet
Review: A couple of years ago, Dr. Jim Brown (Univ. New Mexico) wrote an article in the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) website indicating that he had not seen any really significant new ideas in ecology during the last few year. Well, we have one.
In the hierarchy of biological systems, ecology deals with the highest and most complex levels. Explanation for patterns of abundance and distribution of organisms have been either too specific that only applies to a few species or even one, or too general that can not be tested (remember the ghost of competition's past).
Ecologists working at the community level have mostly been guided by the general principle that interactions tend to determine the diversity of communities. On the larger scale of biogeography, researchers considered that local diversity tends to be a function of a regional species pool. This debate became very contested in the early 1980's and continued for almost a decade, without any meaningful progress. Nonetheless, significant achivements in both areas of inquiry were made.
Hubbell takes advantage of the increased large-scale reasearch in community ecology (like the Smithsonian-MAB biodiversity network of plots) coupled with the ever more manipulative and reductionist approach to biogeography. Is important to add here Hubbell's own contribution to biodiversity research is substantial. Furthermore, the originality of the work is what sets this monograph appart from the last few in the series. The application of random walk models (i.e., ecological drift) to the organization of communities is not a truly new approach. What make is unique is that then he incorporates immigration and extinction rates across space (classical MacArthur-Wilson), and can then predict a range of abundances and distributions. He supplies ample data from tropical systems that agree with model's predictions. The more interesting aspect is when the data doesn't agree. Here there is plenty of productive work to be performed.
One point that Hubbell makes concerning the "triviality" of the nuetrality assumption. Can there be cases when the differential survival of individuals lead to deviations from the theory's prediction? I think that the assumption of neutrality is not as trivial as Hubbell makes it.
Overall, is probably one of the most intriguing and original works of the last decade. If you are interested in ecology, biogeography, and even conservation, this book will challenge what you know and how should we look at patterns and process of biodiversity.