Transitory versus persistent effects of connectivity in environmentally homogeneous metacommunities.

ABSTRACT: While the effect of habitat connectivity on local and regional diversity has been analysed in a number of studies, time-dependent dynamics in metacommunities have received comparatively little consideration. When local patches of a metacommunity are identical in environmental conditions but differ in initial community composition, dispersal among patches may result in homogenization of local communities. In a microcosm experiment with benthic ciliates, we tested the hypothesis that the effect of connectivity on diversity is time-dependent and only transitory, with the degree of connectivity affecting the time to homogenization but not the final outcome. Six microcosms were connected to a metacommunity with one of three levels of connectivity. The six patches differed in initial community c

SUBMITTER: Limberger R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3431365 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature