Beeravolu C. R. auteur aut IRD Couteron Pierre auteur aut IRD Pélissier Raphaël auteur aut IRD Munoz F. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access Neutral models provide an alternative to niche-based assembly rules of ecological communities by assuming that communities' properties are shaped by the stochastic interplay between ecological drift, migration and speciation. The recent and ongoing interest about neutral assumptions has produced many developments on the theoretical side, with nevertheless limited echoes in terms of analyses of real-world data. The present review paper aims to help bridge the widening gap between modellers and field ecologists through two objectives. First, to provide a multi-criteria typology of the main neutral models, including those from population genetics that have not yet been transposed to ecology, by considering how the fundamental processes of ecological drift, speciation and migration are modelled and, specifically, how space is taken into account. Second, to review methods recently proposed to estimate models parameters from field data, a point that should be mastered to allow for broader applications. specialized Community ecology Community models Dispersal limitation Population genetics models Parameter inference Unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography 020 021 220 20 2603-2610 2009 0304-3800 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/PAR00004198 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.06.041 0304-3800 [F B010048269] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/PAR00004198 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2009/10/010048269.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2009-11-09 2017-08-23 PAR00004198 fre