Dispersal-mediated trophic interactions can generate apparent patterns of dispersal limitation in aquatic metacommunities

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dispersal-mediated trophic interactions can generate apparent patterns of dispersal limitation in aquatic metacommunities

AU - Verreydt, D.

AU - De Meester, L.

AU - Decaestecker, E.

AU - Villena, M.J.

AU - Van der Gucht, K.

AU - Vannormelingen, P.

AU - Vyverman, W.

AU - Declerck, S.A.J.

N1 - Reporting year: 2012 Metis note: 5155; WAG; AqE

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Dispersal is a major organising force in metacommunities, which may facilitate compositional responses of local communities to environmental change and affect ecosystem function. Organism groups differ widely in their dispersal abilities and their communities are therefore expected to have different adaptive abilities. In mesocosms, we studied the simultaneous compositional response of three plankton communities (zoo-, phyto- and bacterioplankton) to a primary productivity gradient and evaluated how this response was mediated by dispersal intensity. Dispersal enhanced responses in all three planktonic groups, which also affected ecosystem functioning. Yet, variation partitioning analyses indicated that responses in phytoplankton and bacterial communities were not only controlled by dispersal directly but also indirectly through complex trophic interactions. Our results indicate that metacommunity patterns emerging from dispersal can cascade through the food web and generate patterns of apparent dispersal limitation in organisms at other trophic levels.

AB - Dispersal is a major organising force in metacommunities, which may facilitate compositional responses of local communities to environmental change and affect ecosystem function. Organism groups differ widely in their dispersal abilities and their communities are therefore expected to have different adaptive abilities. In mesocosms, we studied the simultaneous compositional response of three plankton communities (zoo-, phyto- and bacterioplankton) to a primary productivity gradient and evaluated how this response was mediated by dispersal intensity. Dispersal enhanced responses in all three planktonic groups, which also affected ecosystem functioning. Yet, variation partitioning analyses indicated that responses in phytoplankton and bacterial communities were not only controlled by dispersal directly but also indirectly through complex trophic interactions. Our results indicate that metacommunity patterns emerging from dispersal can cascade through the food web and generate patterns of apparent dispersal limitation in organisms at other trophic levels.

KW - international

U2 - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01728.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01728.x

M3 - Article

SN - 1461-023X

VL - 15

SP - 218

EP - 226

JO - Ecology Letters

JF - Ecology Letters

IS - 3

ER -