Open systems in community ecology: dispersal, diversity, and ecosystem properties Public Deposited
- Last Modified
- March 22, 2019
- Creator
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Lee, Sarah Christine
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Marine Sciences
- Abstract
- A large fraction of community ecology has focused on processes that operate within communities to control species richness; however, most natural localities are open to dispersal. Dispersal can mediate community structure and functioning by introducing novel species and promoting coexistence at multiple spatial scales. Using experiments, I tested the effects of dispersal in complex, multi-trophic communities. Results suggest that dispersal of novel species is an important determinant of species richness, community composition and ecosystem properties across a range of environmental conditions. Dispersal also promoted coexistence in a network of communities with different environmental conditions, possibly by subsidizing failing populations with individuals of successful populations. Together, these results broaden our understanding of community and ecosystem-level effects of dispersal beyond terrestrial plant communities and highlight mechanisms of coexistence that may be unique to mobile animals.
- Date of publication
- May 2010
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- Bruno, John
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Language
- Access
- Open access
- Parents:
This work has no parents.
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Open systems in community ecology : dispersal, diversity, and ecosystem properties | 2019-04-09 | Public |
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