Integrating macroecological metrics and community taxonomic structure

Abstract

John Harte,1* Andrew Rominger2 We extend macroecological theory based on the maximum entropy principle from species level to and Wenyu Zhang3 higher taxonomic categories, thereby predicting distributions of species richness across genera or families and the dependence of abundance and metabolic rate distributions on taxonomic tree structure. Predictions agree with qualitative trends reported in studies on hyper-dominance in tropical tree species, mammalian body size distributions and patterns of rarity in worldwide plant communities. Predicted distributions of species richness over genera or families for birds, arthro- pods, plants and microorganisms are in excellent agreement with data. Data from an intertidal invertebrate community, but not from a dispersal-limited forest, are in excellent agreement with a predicted new relationship between body size and abundance. Successful predictions of the origi- nal species level theory are unmodified in the extended theory. By integrating macroecology and taxonomic tree structure, maximum entropy may point the way towards a unified framework for understanding phylogenetic community structure.