Synchronous dynamics of zooplankton competitors prevail in temperate lake ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: Although competing species are expected to exhibit compensatory dynamics (negative temporal covariation), empirical work has demonstrated that competitive communities often exhibit synchronous dynamics (positive temporal covariation). This has led to the suggestion that environmental forcing dominates species dynamics; however, synchronous and compensatory dynamics may appear at different length scales and/or at different times, making it challenging to identify their relative importance. We compiled 58 long-term datasets of zooplankton abundance in north-temperate and sub-tropical lakes and used wavelet analysis to quantify general patterns in the times and scales at which synchronous/compensatory dynamics dominated zooplankton communities in different regions and across the entire datase

SUBMITTER: Vasseur DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4083788 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature