A description of a newly released paper in science reads:
In an ecosystem comprising a parasite, an aphid, and a radish, the use of different resources by each species, not species diversity per se, increases overall consumption.
I think that is quite a wonderful description. An image of a radish, with a single aphid and a single parasite, comes to mind, the radish being bright red (this is how I think of radishes) and the aphid white, and parasitoid a tiny buzzing thing.
All of this is, of course, my own stereotyping of the brief description of the paper: Niche Partitioning Increases Resource Exploitation by Diverse Communities/ Deborah L. Finke and William E. Snyder. Science 12 September 2008: 1488-1490. The paper itself is a report on a very interesting test of a central question in ecology and conservation biology: What makes a community of organisms diverse? The paper both supports some classical ecology models and reinforces some recent postulations. Yes, my notice was drawn by an emotional response to a descriptive image, BUT I do recommend the paper itself and attach it:here.
