The effects of habitat connectivity and regional heterogeneity on artificial pond metacommunities

Pedruski, Michael T.; Arnott, Shelley E.

doi:10.1007/s00442-010-1814-y

Cited by 30 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…While dispersal does not necessarily affect diversity at the local or regional scale in heterogeneous metacommunities, it usually tends to homogenize communities and thus decreases beta diversity [30,49]. However, we did not find a significant effect of dispersal on beta diversity.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 75%

Final thermal conditions override the effects of temperature history and dispersal in experimental communities

2014

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Predicting the effect of climate change on biodiversity is a multifactorial problem that is complicated by potentially interactive effects with habitat properties and altered species interactions. In a microcosm experiment with communities of microalgae, we analysed whether the effect of rising temperature on diversity depended on the initial or the final temperature of the habitat, on the rate of change, on dispersal and on landscape heterogeneity. We also tested whether the response of species to temperature measured in monoculture allowed prediction of the composition of communities under rising temperature. We found that the final temperature of the habitat was the primary driver of diversity in our experimental communities. Species richness declined faster at higher temperatures. The negative effect of warming was not alleviated by a slower rate of warming or by dispersal among habitats and did not depend on the initial temperature. The response of evenness, however, did depend on the rate of change and on the initial temperature. Community composition was not predictable from monoculture assays, but higher fitness inequality (as seen by larger variance in growth rate among species in monoculture at higher temperatures) explained the faster loss of biodiversity with rising temperature.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 75%

Final thermal conditions override the effects of temperature history and dispersal in experimental communities

2014

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“…However, cattle tank communities in study 2 had lower proportions of littoral species than the George Lake community (B. Walseng unpublished data; Schartau et al 2007). This could be due to an inability of some littoral species to survive in cattle tanks without macrophytes or sediment that provide necessary habitat structures (DeClerck et al 2007), although Pedruski and Arnott (2011) found that substrate had no significant effect on local zooplankton richness in cattle tanks identical to the ones used in this study. It could also be due to the effects of unintentionally introduced aerial colonizers.…”

Section: Consequences Of Canoe-mediated Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 77%

Portage connectivity does not predict establishment success of canoe-mediated dispersal for crustacean zooplankton

et al. 2011

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Although community structure may be largely determined by local abiotic and biotic conditions under moderate levels of dispersal, anthropogenic activities can enhance dispersal rates far beyond what would otherwise occur in natural systems. We investigated the potential impact of recreational canoeing on crustacean zooplankton community structure in Killarney Provincial Park, Canada, where canoes that are transported between lakes via portage routes may enhance zooplankton community connectivity by providing a dispersal ''short-cut.'' We conducted a study to (1) quantify zooplankton attachment to canoe hulls after paddling through a lake and assess the importance of canoes to overall seasonal dispersal within a lake relative to other means of dispersal, (2) test the prediction that zooplankton survivorship is negatively correlated with portage duration using a mesocosm experiment, and (3) test whether variation in lake community composition was better explained by models based on reduced portagecorrected distances or true edge-to-edge distances between lakes along popular canoe routes. Here, we report the findings that canoes have the potential to act as frequent dispersal vectors, but appear to have little impact on community structure in portage-connected lakes. Substantial numbers of adult zooplankton became attached to canoe hulls and were able to establish viable populations even after exposure to portage conditions for 30 min. However, canoe-mediated dispersal only accounted for a very small proportion (\1% in this case) of overall seasonal dispersal. Moreover, environmental variables explained the greatest amount of variation in community composition among park lakes. Nevertheless, this study indicates that canoe dispersal could be more effective for specific species such as Sida crystallina than is evident by analysis of entire communities and could facilitate the spread of invasive species amenable to attaching to boat hulls. Thus, the debate about whether community composition is more strongly influenced by local environmental conditions or Handling Editor: Piet Spaak.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (regional dispersal may vary depending on the scale of consideration (i.e., individual species vs. whole community).

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“…Declining beta-diversity with increasing dispersal frequency indicated homogenization of the metacommunity, but competitive interactions were apparently not strong enough to exclude the same species from every local community. Likewise, metacommunity experiments with spatial heterogeneity in environmental conditions do not necessarily find an effect of connectivity on regional richness [26], [27].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator Dispersal Determines the Effect of Connectivity on Prey Diversity

Limberger

Wickham

2011

PLoS ONE

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Linking local communities to a metacommunity can positively affect diversity by enabling immigration of dispersal-limited species and maintenance of sink populations. However, connectivity can also negatively affect diversity by allowing the spread of strong competitors or predators. In a microcosm experiment with five ciliate species as prey and a copepod as an efficient generalist predator, we analysed the effect of connectivity on prey species richness in metacommunities that were either unconnected, connected for the prey, or connected for both prey and predator. Presence and absence of predator dispersal was cross-classified with low and high connectivity. The effect of connectivity on local and regional richness strongly depended on whether corridors were open for the predator. Local richness was initially positively affected by connectivity through rescue of species from stochastic extinctions. With predator dispersal, however, this positive effect soon turned negative as the predator spread over the metacommunity. Regional richness was unaffected by connectivity when local communities were connected only for the prey, while predator dispersal resulted in a pronounced decrease of regional richness. The level of connectivity influenced the speed of richness decline, with regional species extinctions being delayed for one week in weakly connected metacommunities. While connectivity enabled rescue of prey species from stochastic extinctions, deterministic extinctions due to predation were not overcome through reimmigration from predator-free refuges. Prey reimmigrating into these sink habitats appeared to be directly converted into increased predator abundance. Connectivity thus had a positive effect on the predator, even when the predator was not dispersing itself. Our study illustrates that dispersal of a species with strong negative effects on other community members shapes the dispersal-diversity relationship. When connections enable the spread of a generalist predator, positive effects of connectivity on prey species richness are outweighed by regional extinctions through predation.

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The effects of habitat connectivity and regional heterogeneity on artificial pond metacommunities

Cited by 30 publications

References 38 publications

Final thermal conditions override the effects of temperature history and dispersal in experimental communities

Final thermal conditions override the effects of temperature history and dispersal in experimental communities

Portage connectivity does not predict establishment success of canoe-mediated dispersal for crustacean zooplankton

Predator Dispersal Determines the Effect of Connectivity on Prey Diversity

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