Niches and ecological neutrality

In the past two decades there has been a high-profile debate between two frameworks for exploring biodiversity in ecology: the niche-based framework and the neutral framework. This paper discusses contrasting approaches to forge a causal relationship between the niche theory and the neutral theory. The first approach suggests that evolution for niche differentiation may lead to neutrality, and the second suggests that evolution for niche convergence may do so. Although counterintuitive and rarely considered, here I argue that the differentiation hypothesis is more promising. As will be demonstrated, adopting this hypothesis has notable implications for how the neutral theory is received.