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Local Ecological Communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Kim Sterelny
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Abstract

A phenomenological community is an identifiable assemblage of organisms in a local habitat patch: a local wetland or mudflat are typical examples. Such communities are typically persistent: membership and abundance stay fairly constant over time. In this paper I discuss whether phenomenological communities are functionally structured, causal systems that play a role in determining the presence and abundance of organisms in a local habitat patch. I argue they are not, if individualist models of community assembly are vindicated; i.e., if the presence of one species is not typically explained by the presence or absence of specific other species. I discuss two alternatives to individualism, and conclude by arguing for a dimensional model of phenomenological communities. The causal salience of a phenomenological community depends on three factors: the extent to which it is internally regulated, the extent to which it has robust boundaries, and the extent to which it has emergent properties. I conclude by using this model to frame a natural research agenda for community ecology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 215 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks to Mark Colyvan, Michael Weisberg, Tim Lewens, Jay Odenbaugh, Peter Godfrey-Smith, John Odling-Smee, and three referees and the editor of this journal for very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The dimensional way of thinking about communities was suggested to me by Peter Godfrey-Smith's parallel treatment of Darwinian populations. Thanks also to the audience of HPS Cambridge for their helpful feedback on a presentation based on this material.

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