Current address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCB 334, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
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Factors controlling community structure in heterogeneous metacommunities
Article first published online: 13 MAY 2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2009.01559.x
© 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 British Ecological Society
Additional Information
How to Cite
Davies, K. F., Holyoak, M., Preston, K. A., Offeman, V. A. and Lum, Q. (2009), Factors controlling community structure in heterogeneous metacommunities. Journal of Animal Ecology, 78: 937–944. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2009.01559.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 29 JUL 2009
- Article first published online: 13 MAY 2009
- Received 31 October 2008; accepted 6 April 2009 Handling Editor: Andrew Backerman
Keywords:
- dispersal;
- diversity;
- metacommunity;
- protozoa;
- spatial heterogeneity
Summary
1. Modern theories of species coexistence recognize the importance of environmental heterogeneity.
2. Despite the existence of many observational studies, few experimental studies have evaluated the extent to which, and mechanisms by which, fixed spatial heterogeneity increases community diversity and alters community structure.
3 In experimental protist communities, we found that non-spatial mechanisms unrelated to heterogeneity were responsible for a large component of baseline diversity. Above this baseline, fixed spatial heterogeneity produced small but predictable increases in metacommunity diversity through species sorting, while heterogeneity and dispersal together altered local community structure (composition and relative abundance) through mass effects.
4. Our study illustrates that heterogeneity is not always the strongest driver of diversity, while experimentally demonstrating mechanisms by which heterogeneity alters community structure.