title: Competition-colonization trade-offs and disturbance effects at multiple scales.
abstract: The competition-colonization trade-off has long been a mechanism explaining patterns of species coexistence and diversity in nonequilibrium systems. It forms one explanation of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) for local communities--specifically that diversity should be maximized at intermediate disturbance frequencies, yet only a fraction of empirical studies support IDH predictions. Similarly, this trade-off is also a powerful explanation of coexistence at larger spatial scales. I show, with a microbial experimental system, that the diversity-disturbance relationship is dependent on the relative distribution of species along this trade-off. Here I show that, when species are skewed toward late-successional habits, local diversity declines with disturbance. Yet, despite this trait skew, diversity at scales larger than the patch appears insensitive to the trade-off distribution. Intermediate disturbance frequencies produce the greatest diversity in patch successional stage, thus benefiting the maximum number of species at larger scales.
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
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011158:Population Growth; D011161:Porifera / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D013045:Species Specificity; D014867:Water / Q000469:parasitology*
chemical_list: D014867:Water