Assembly rules

Community assembly rules are a set of controversial rules in ecology, first proposed by Jared Diamond. Community assembly rules are a set of controversial rules in ecology, first proposed by Jared Diamond. The rules were developed after more than a decade of research into the avian assemblages on islands near New Guinea. The rules assert that competition is responsible for determining the patterns of assemblage composition. Diamond's paper sparked nearly two decades worth of controversy in the literature, from the late seventies through the late nineties and is considered a turning point in community ecology. The disagreement continues to this day.