Community assembly, coexistence and the environmental filtering metaphor

Summary One of the most pervasive concepts in the study of community assembly is the metaphor of the environmental filter, which refers to abiotic factors that prevent the establishment or persistence of species in a particular location. The metaphor has its origins in the study of community change during succession and in plant community dynamics, although it has gained considerable attention recently as part of a surge of interest in functional trait and phylogenetic‐based approaches to the study of communities. While the filtering metaphor has clear utility in some circumstances, it has been challenging to reconcile the environmental filtering concept with recent developments in ecological theory related to…