Tractable models of ecological assembly

Ecological assembly is a fundamental and yet poorly understood process. Three main obstacles hinder the development of theory assembly, when these issues are sidestepped by making strong assumptions, one can build an graph in which nodes ecological communities edges invasions shifting their composition. The then be analysed directly, without need to consider dynamics. To showcase this framework, we analyse graphs for competitive Lotka–Volterra model, showing that cases sequential (in species invade community at time) reach same configurations found starting system with all present different initial conditions. We discuss how our results advance understanding both from empirical theoretical point view, informing study restoration design communities.