Niches versus neutrality : uncovering the drivers of diversity in a species-rich community /Vergnon, Rémi Dulvy, N. K. Freckleton, R. P. Biodiversity body mass coexistence competition migration neutrality niche space niche-based processes species similarity Ecological models suggest that high diversity can be generated by purely niche-based, purely neutral or by a mixture of niche-based and neutral ecological processes. Here, we compare the degree to which four contrasting hypotheses for coexistence, ranging from niche-based to neutral, explain species richness along a body mass niche axis. We derive predictions from these hypotheses and confront them with species body-mass patterns in a highly sampled marine phytoplankton community. We find that these patterns are consistent only with a mechanism that combines niche and neutral processes, such as the emergent neutrality mechanism. In this work, we provide the first empirical evidence that a niche-neutral model can explain niche space occupancy pattern in a natural species-rich community. We suggest this class of model may be a useful hypothesis for the generation and maintenance of species diversity in other size-structured communities. 2009 text https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010048177 fdi:010048177 Vergnon Rémi, Dulvy N. K., Freckleton R. P.. Niches versus neutrality : uncovering the drivers of diversity in a species-rich community. 2009, 12 (10), 1079-1090 EN