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Vocalizing animals are known to produce a wide range of species-specific spectral and temporal communication patterns. As a consequence, the acoustic heterogeneity of insect communities is expected to increase with the number of vocalizing species. Using a combination of simulation models and field surveys, we tested the hypotheses that (1) acoustic heterogeneity increases with the number of cricket and katydid species in ensiferan communities and (2) acoustic heterogeneity of naturally assembled ensiferan communities is higher than that of randomly assembled ones. The slope of the acoustic heterogeneity-species richness relationship in naturally assembled communities was positive but did not differ from that of randomly assembled communities, suggesting a rather weak competition for the acoustic space. Comparing the species richness-acoustic heterogeneity relationship of naturally and randomly assembled communities, our study provides a novel approach for understanding species assembly rules in animal groups that rely on acoustic communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]