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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Body size and dispersal mode as key traits determining metacommunity structure of aquatic organisms
Ecology Letters, Volume 15, No. 7, Year 2012
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Description
Relationships between traits of organisms and the structure of their metacommunities have so far mainly been explored with meta-analyses. We compared metacommunities of a wide variety of aquatic organism groups (12 groups, ranging from bacteria to fish) in the same set of 99 ponds to minimise biases inherent to meta-analyses. In the category of passive dispersers, large-bodied groups showed stronger spatial patterning than small-bodied groups suggesting an increasing impact of dispersal limitation with increasing body size. Metacommunities of organisms with the ability to fly (i.e. insect groups) showed a weaker imprint of dispersal limitation than passive dispersers with similar body size. In contrast, dispersal movements of vertebrate groups (fish and amphibians) seemed to be mainly confined to local connectivity patterns. Our results reveal that body size and dispersal mode are important drivers of metacommunity structure and these traits should therefore be considered when developing a predictive framework for metacommunity dynamics. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.
Authors & Co-Authors
de Bie, Tom
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
de Meester, Luc
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
Brendonck, Luc
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
Martens, Koen M.
Belgium, Brussels
Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut Voor Natuurwetenschappen
Belgium, Ghent
Universiteit Gent
van der Gucht, Katleen
Belgium, Ghent
Universiteit Gent
Vyverman, Wim G.
Belgium, Ghent
Universiteit Gent
Declerck, Steven A.J.
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
Netherlands, Wageningen
Netherlands Institute of Ecology Nioo - Knaw
Statistics
Citations: 488
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01794.x
ISSN:
14610248