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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Monitoring Spatial Segregation in Surface Colonizing Microbial Populations

Monitoring Spatial Segregation in Surface Colonizing Microbial Populations

Published on: October 29, 2016

Competition-colonization trade-offs and disturbance effects at multiple scales.

Marc William Cadotte¹

¹Complex Systems Group, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA. cadotte@lifesci.ucsb.edu

|June 1, 2007

Summary

Species coexistence relies on the competition-colonization trade-off. This study reveals that local diversity decreases with disturbance when species favor late successional stages, but larger scales remain unaffected.

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Last Updated: Jul 14, 2026

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Community Ecology
Biodiversity Research

Background:

The competition-colonization trade-off is a key mechanism explaining species coexistence and diversity in nonequilibrium systems.
The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH) suggests maximal diversity at intermediate disturbance frequencies, but empirical support is limited.
This trade-off is also a significant factor in explaining species coexistence at larger spatial scales.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how the distribution of species traits along the competition-colonization trade-off influences the relationship between disturbance and diversity.
To determine if this relationship differs at local versus larger spatial scales.

Main Methods:

Utilized a microbial experimental system to study the diversity-disturbance relationship.
Manipulated disturbance frequencies and observed effects on species diversity.
Analyzed the distribution of species traits, specifically their position along the competition-colonization trade-off.

Main Results:

When species traits were skewed towards late-successional habits, local species diversity declined as disturbance increased.
Despite this trait skew, species diversity at spatial scales larger than the individual patch remained largely insensitive to the trait distribution.
Intermediate disturbance frequencies maximized diversity within the patch successional stage, benefiting the most species at larger scales.

Conclusions:

The impact of the competition-colonization trade-off on diversity is scale-dependent.
Local diversity patterns are sensitive to trait distribution, particularly under high disturbance.
Larger-scale diversity is more robust to trait distribution, with intermediate disturbance promoting coexistence.