Established rodent community delays recovery of dominant competitor following experimental disturbance.

ABSTRACT: Human activities alter processes that control local biodiversity, causing changes in the abundance and identity of species in ecosystems. However, restoring biodiversity to a previous state is rarely as simple as reintroducing lost species or restoring processes to their pre-disturbance state. Theory suggests that established species can impede shifts in species composition via a variety of mechanisms, including direct interference, pre-empting resources or habitat alteration. These mechanisms can create transitory dynamics that delay convergence to an expected end state. We use an experimental manipulation of a desert rodent community to examine differences in recolonization dynamics of a dominant competitor (kangaroo rats of the genus Dipodomys) when patches were already occupied

SUBMITTER: Christensen EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6939914 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature