Figure 2. Diverse Coral Reef Systems Serve As Ideal Experiments for Niche and Neutral Theories.

(A) Surveys of coral reefs on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, are prompting both niche and neutral theorists to pay greater attention to the role of environmental fluctuations on species diversity patterns.

Photo courtesy of Sean Connolly.

(B) Organisms cover every square inch of coral reef, which led many to believe that their limited potential to partition resources into niches would make them a prime example of neutral dynamics. In fact, species diversity was more variable than would be assumed by neutral theory. Photo courtesy of Terry Hughes.