Conclusion
Facilitation is a significant ecological process that produces community-level effects through individual interactions. By improving dispersal, increasing access to resources, and providing protection from stress, predation, and competition, facilitation can impact community structure, diversity, and invasibility. Incorporation of facilitation into such classic theories as natural selection and niche separation should be a goal of current and future ecologists. This will require further research into the mechanisms of facilitation at the level of individuals, and the impacts of facilitation at the level of population, community, and ecosystem. Continued study of positive species interactions will serve to improve our understanding of processes and application of theories.
Read more about this topic: Ecological Facilitation
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