Evaluating support for the resource-ratio hypothesis: A reply to Wilson et al.

We reviewed 1,333 papers that cite Tilman (1980, 1982) and test specific predictions of the resource-ratio hypothesis (RRH). The primary conclusions of our article (Miller et al. 2005) were (1) that relatively few articles that cite Tilman’s publications (1980, 1982) provide well-designed tests of predictions of RRH; (2) that most of these tests were conducted in labs or experimental microcosms and involved primary producers in freshwater systems; (3) that overall, the majority of the well-conducted experiments do support RRH; and (4) that many of the predictions of RRH have been insufficiently tested to allow generalization, especially predictions related to resource supply and consumption rates. We encouraged further studies on RRH, especially in natural systems.