Assessing contributions of deterministic versus stochastic processes to local species assembly: A field experiment with annual plant‐dominated communities in gypsum systems

Abstract The long‐standing debate around the processes involved in species assembly has generated a conceptual gradient from deterministic to stochastic postulates. Environment selects traits to determine the species that ultimately participate in realised assemblages. However, neutral ecological processes (e.g. random seed dispersal, demographic stochasticity) can also lead to species co‐occurrence in the community. Despite the current consensus that both filtering and unpredictable events driv