A spatial stochastic model for explaining macro-ecological patterns in species-rich ecosystems

Despite a vast body of research that informs us about the general properties of spatial macroecological patterns of species-rich ecosystems, we still lack a satisfactory theory that explains their underlying interconnections. Several of such ecological measures crucially depend on the behaviour of the spatial correlation functions at all orders, and any truncation inevitably impairs the results. The calculation of spatial macroecological patterns in spatially-explicit stochastic models is challenging even in simple models, because these latter often have stationary distributions for which the detailed balance condition is not satisfied. We will present a spatially-explicit neutral model and a general method for linking several patterns, showing how we can predict one from another. Predictions are in agreement with empirical data.