Do all roads lead to Rome? Exploring community trajectories in response to anthropogenic salinization and dilution of rivers.

ABSTRACT: Abiotic stress shapes how communities assemble and support ecological functions. However, it remains unclear whether artificially increasing or decreasing stress levels would lead to communities assembling predictably along a single axis of variation or along multiple context-dependent trajectories of change. In response to stress intensity alterations, we hypothesize that a single trajectory of change occurs when trait-based assembly prevails, while multiple trajectories of change arise when dispersal-related processes modify colonization and trait-filtering dynamics. Here, we tested these hypotheses using aquatic macroinvertebrates from rivers exposed to gradients of natural salinity and artificially diluted or salinized ion contents. Our results showed that trait-filtering was important

SUBMITTER: Gutierrez-Canovas C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6283960 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature