Response to Comment on "Plant diversity increases with the strength of negative density dependence at the global scale"

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 360; no. 6391
• Main Authors: LaManna, Joseph A, Mangan, Scott A, Alonso, Alfonso, Bourg, Norman A, Brockelman, Warren Y, Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh, Chang, Li-Wan, Chiang, Jyh-Min, Chuyong, George B, Clay, Keith, Cordell, Susan, Davies, Stuart J, Furniss, Tucker J, Giardina, Christian P, Gunatilleke, I A U Nimal, Gunatilleke, C V Savitri, He, Fangliang, Howe, Robert W, Hubbell, Stephen P, Hsieh, Chang-Fu, Inman-Narahari, Faith M, Janík, David, Johnson, Daniel J, Kenfack, David, Korte, Lisa, Král, Kamil, Larson, Andrew J, Lutz, James A, McMahon, Sean M, McShea, William J, Memiaghe, Hervé R, Nathalang, Anuttara, Novotny, Vojtech, Ong, Perry S, Orwig, David A, Ostertag, Rebecca, Parker, Geoffrey G, Phillips, Richard P, Sack, Lawren, Sun, I-Fang, Tello, J Sebastián, Thomas, Duncan W, Turner, Benjamin L, Vela Díaz, Dilys M, Vrška, Tomáš, Weiblen, George D, Wolf, Amy, Yap, Sandra, Myers, Jonathan A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 25-05-2018
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Density dependence; Dependence; Plant diversity
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.aar3824

Hülsmann and Hartig suggest that ecological mechanisms other than specialized natural enemies or intraspecific competition contribute to our estimates of conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD). To address their concern, we show that our results are not the result of a methodological artifact and present a null-model analysis that demonstrates that our original findings-(i) stronger CNDD at tropical relative to temperate latitudes and (ii) a latitudinal shift in the relationship between CNDD and species abundance-persist even after controlling for other processes that might influence spatial relationships between adults and recruits.