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Dispersal increases ecological selection by increasing effective community size.

Ronen Ron1, Ori Fragman-Sapir2, Ronen Kadmon3

  • 1Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|October 17, 2018
PubMed
Summary

Dispersal increases the effective community size, reducing random drift and enhancing the role of ecological selection in shaping species composition. This finding is key for understanding ecological dynamics and managing biodiversity in fragmented habitats.

Keywords:
annual plantsdispersalmesocosm experimentmetacommunity dynamicsselection vs. drift

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Population Dynamics

Background:

  • Ecological changes are driven by species selection (fitness differences) and drift (stochasticity in birth/death rates).
  • The relative importance of selection versus drift influences the predictability of ecological dynamics.
  • Understanding factors that modulate selection and drift is crucial for ecological theory and conservation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the "effective community size" hypothesis: that dispersal increases ecological selection's importance.
  • To investigate how dispersal affects the balance between deterministic selection and stochastic drift in ecological communities.
  • To determine the impact of dispersal on species composition dynamics.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted a field experiment manipulating dispersal magnitude in annual plant communities.
  • Performed a mesocosm experiment directly altering effective community size.
  • Utilized model simulations to complement experimental findings.

Main Results:

  • Both experiments demonstrated that increased dispersal enhances the role of selective forces.
  • Higher dispersal led to a reduced influence of demographic stochasticity (drift).
  • Findings were consistent across experiments and model simulations, supporting the effective community size hypothesis.

Conclusions:

  • Dispersal increases effective community size, thereby amplifying ecological selection's impact on species composition.
  • This mechanism is fundamental to understanding community dynamics, especially in fragmented ecosystems.
  • The results have implications for biodiversity management in patchy environments.