A theory of diversity equilibrium and morphological evolution

Abstract

If the world can only support a finite amount of biomass, species might be added over time, with a decrease in population size of an average species. Population sizes of species will decrease to the extent that stochastic events eliminate species as fast as others appear, yielding an equilibrium. A resource diversity control of niche subdivision is therefore not needed to generate an equilibrium number of species. Morphological evolution may decelerate over time for similar reasons.