Timing is everything: priority effects alter community invasibility after disturbance.

ABSTRACT: Theory suggests that communities should be more open to the establishment of regional species following disturbance because disturbance may make more resources available to dispersers. However, after an initial period of high invasibility, growth of the resident community may lead to the monopolization of local resources and decreased probability of successful colonist establishment. During press disturbances (i.e., directional environmental change), it remains unclear what effect regional dispersal will have on local community structure if the establishment of later arriving species is affected by early arriving species (i.e., if priority effects are important). To determine the relationship between time-since-disturbance and invasibility, we conducted a fully factorial field mesocosm exp

SUBMITTER: Symons CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3936386 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature