Species richness determines if environment or interactions drive species distributions in Australia.
The study used data from GBIF to investigate how species richness affects the balance between niche and neutral processes in shaping species distributions in Australia. By analyzing over one million mammal occurrence records, the researchers found that species-rich areas are more influenced by neutral processes, while species-poor areas are driven more by niche processes. This suggests that the number of species in an area can impact how environmental factors shape species ranges.