Community genetics: resource addition has opposing effects on genetic and species diversity in a 150-year experiment.

We used the Park Grass Experiment, begun in 1856, to test alternative hypotheses about the relationship between genetic diversity and plant species diversity. The niche variation hypothesis predicts that populations with few interspecific competitors and hence broader niches are expected to contain greater genetic diversity. The coexistence hypothesis predicts that genetic diversity within species favours coexistence among species and therefore species and genetic diversity should be positively correlated.