ROTIFERS AND HUBBELL'S UNIFIED NEUTRAL THEORY OF BIODIVERSITY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY

This paper reviews several neutral models as possible mechanisms for simulating and explaining so-called “hollow curve distributions.” The models include simple random assignment, MacArthur's broken stick, Preston's lognor-mal (but as simulated by Sugihara), Fisher's logseries, and Hubbell's unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeog-raphy. Each model is fitted to data describing the distribution of genera over families in the phylum Rotifera.