title: On testing the competition-colonization trade-off in a multispecies assemblage.
abstract: The competition-colonization trade-off has long been considered an important mechanism explaining species coexistence in spatially structured environments, yet data supporting it remain ambiguous. Most competition-colonization research examines plants and the dispersal-linked traits of their seeds. However, colonization is more than just dispersal because rapid population growth is also an important component of colonization. We tested for the presence of competition-colonization trade-offs with a commonly used artificial assemblage consisting of protozoan and rotifer species, where colonization was the ability of a species to establish populations in patches. By ranking species according to their colonization abilities and their pairwise competitive interactions, we show that these species exhibit competition-colonization trade-offs. These results reveal that the competition-colonization trade-off exists within nonplant assemblages and that even in a laboratory setting, species are constrained to be either good competitors or colonizers but not both.
authors.affiliation: Complex Systems Group, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA. cadotte@lifesci.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: Marc William
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Cadotte
authors.forename: Donny V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jantz
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keele
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Drake
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003710:Demography; D017753:Ecosystem; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012403:Rotifera / Q000502:physiology