Spatial insurance in multi-trophic metacommunities.

ABSTRACT: Metacommunity theory suggests that dispersal is a key driver of diversity and ecosystem functioning in changing environments. The capacity of dispersal to mitigate effects of environmental change might vary among trophic groups, potentially resulting in changes in trophic interactions and food web structure. In a mesocosm experiment, we compared the compositional response of bacteria, phyto- and zooplankton to a factorial manipulation of acidification and dispersal. We found that the buffering capacity of dispersal varied among trophic groups: dispersal alleviated the negative effect of acidification on phytoplankton diversity mid-experiment, but had no effect on the diversity of zooplankton and bacteria. Likewise, trophic groups differed in whether dispersal facilitated compositional chan

SUBMITTER: Limberger R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6852594 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature