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The importance of biotic interactions in abundance–occupancy relationships
Article first published online: 6 SEP 2002
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2656.2002.00650.x
1365-2656/asset/cover.gif?v=1&s=e1c445961d632cd41e33852af907c4900097559b "Journal of Animal Ecology")
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How to Cite
Holt, A. R., Warren, P. H. and Gaston, K. J. (2002), The importance of biotic interactions in abundance–occupancy relationships. Journal of Animal Ecology, 71: 846–854. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2656.2002.00650.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 6 SEP 2002
- Article first published online: 6 SEP 2002
- Received 5 November 2001; revision received 27 May 2002
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Keywords:
- abundance–occupancy relationship;
- biotic interactions;
- dispersal;
- microcosms;
- metapopulation dynamics
Summary
- 1Metapopulation dynamics have been postulated as a possible mechanism giving rise to positive interspecific relationships between local abundance and regional occupancy. These may operate through the carrying capacity or the rescue effect hypotheses. However, both are based on single species models that sum independent occurrences of species to form an assemblage, ignoring interspecific interactions.
- 2Here we test experimentally whether interspecific interactions and dispersal influence the formation of the abundance–occupancy relationship in metapopulation systems in laboratory microcosms containing protists and bacteria.
- 3The effect of species interactions was tested by comparison of the abundance–occupancy relationship in multiple habitat patch systems containing all species together, with the relationship formed by combining data from equivalent systems containing each protist species alone.
- 4Abundance–occupancy relationships in interacting communities were better defined than those in non-interacting communities. The inclusion of interspecific interactions was found to cause a reduction in the abundance and occupancy of the majority of species, as a consequence of which the position of species within the relationship changed drastically.