Superior Dispersal Ability Can Lead to Persistent Ecological Dominance throughout Succession.

ABSTRACT: A large number of descriptive surveys have shown that microbial communities experience successional changes over time and that ecological dominance is common in the microbial world. However, direct evidence for the ecological processes mediating succession or causing ecological dominance remains rare. Different dispersal abilities among species may be a key mechanism. We surveyed fungal diversity within a metacommunity of pitchers of the model carnivorous plant Sarracenia purpurea and discovered that the yeast Candida pseudoglaebosa was ecologically dominant. Its frequency in the metacommunity increased during the growing season, and it was not replaced by other taxa. We next measured its competitive ability in a manipulative laboratory experiment and tracked its dispersal over time in nat

SUBMITTER: Boynton PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6414377 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature