Bottom-up and top-down control of dispersal across major organismal groups. Issue 12 (December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fronhofer, Emanuel; Legrand, Delphine; Altermatt, Florian; Ansart, Armelle; Blanchet, Simon; Bonte, Dries; Chaine, Alexis; Dahirel, Maxime; De Laender, Frederik; De Raedt, Jonathan; di Gesu, Lucie; Jacob, Staffan; Kaltz, Oliver; Laurent, Estelle; Little, Chelsea; Madec, Luc; Manzi, Florent; Masier, Stefano; Pellerin, Felix; Pennekamp, Frank; Schtickzelle, Nicolas; Therry, Lieven; Vong, Alexandre; Winandy, Laurane; Cote, Julien
• Is Part Of: Nature ecology & evolution. Volume 2:Issue 12(2018)
• Page Start: 1859
• Page End: 1863
• Publication Date: 2018-12
• Subjects: Ecology -- Periodicals; Evolution (Biology) -- Periodicals; 577.05
• DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0686-0
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2397-334X

Abstract

Abstract Ecology and evolution unfold in spatially structured communities, where dispersal links dynamics across scales. Because dispersal is multicausal, identifying general drivers remains challenging. In a coordinated distributed experiment spanning organisms from protozoa to vertebrates, we tested whether two fundamental determinants of local dynamics, top-down and bottom-up control, generally explain active dispersal. We show that both factors consistently increased emigration rates and use metacommunity modelling to highlight consequences on local and regional dynamics. In a coordinated distributed dispersal experiment involving seven laboratories, the authors show that both top-down predation risk and bottom-up resource limitation increase emigration rates across 21 species ranging from protozoa to vertebrates.