Searching for the ecological processes determining the distribution and coexistence of north-western Amazonian tree communities

Local spatial distribution of plants and the factors driving it is a matter of study in Ecology. Some plants for example live in aggregation (or even monodominance) defying the Negative Desdity Dependence hypothesis within natural ecosystems. Recent research has found no effect of the size of species geographic ranges, the diversity of climate or the intraspecific variability of leaf traits in predicting topographic habitat association of the most common tropical tree species in a 50Ha Yasuní Amazonian forest plot (Ecuador).
How plant species are distributed as they are? One potential mechanism could be an efficient use of soil nutrients via an accelerated rate of decomposition process of their own leaf litter driven by specialized soil organisms (e.g. detritivores, microflora and microfauna), via ultra-efficient mycorrhizae, and/or following soil nutrients distribution. Such an efficient nutrient uptake could probably allow plants to invest more in defenses against pathogens and avoid inter- and intraspecific competition for resources. This is a field of constant debate, where much remains to be done.