RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 To remain modern, the coexistence program requires modern statistical rigor
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.12.28.522056
DO 10.1101/2022.12.28.522056
A1 David W. Armitage
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/12/30/2022.12.28.522056.abstract
AB A recent study by Van Dyke et al.1 paired experimental drought manipulations with demographic models and trait measurements to project major shifts in coexistence among a number of annual plant taxa. However, re-analysis of the data under alternative, more predictive competition models reveals that the authors’ original conclusions are very sensitive to slight variations in model form. Furthermore, propagating model parameter error into coexistence predictions results in relatively weak support for the majority of coexistence shifts predicted by the authors’ original model. These results highlight the need for increased statistical rigor when treating binary predictions of species coexistence as observed experimental outcomes, as is commonly practiced in empirical coexistence studies.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.