Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
7-2015
Journal or Book Title
The American Naturalist
Volume
186
Issue
1
First Page
151
Last Page
158
DOI
10.1086/681621
Abstract
The ecological principle of competitive exclusion states that species competing for identical resources cannot coexist, but this principle is paradoxical because ecologically similar competitors are regularly observed. Coexistence is possible under some conditions if a fluctuating environment changes the competitive dominance of species. This change in competitive dominance implies the existence of trade-offs underlying species' competitive abilities in different environments. Theory shows that fluctuating distance between resource patches can facilitate coexistence in ephemeral patch competitors, given a functional trade-off between species dispersal ability and fecundity. We find evidence supporting this trade-off in a guild of five ecologically similar nonpollinating fig wasps and subsequently predict local among-patch species densities. We also introduce a novel colonization index to estimate relative dispersal ability among ephemeral patch competitors. We suggest that a dispersal ability-fecundity trade-off and spatiotemporally fluctuating resource availability commonly co-occur to drive population dynamics and facilitate coexistence in ephemeral patch communities.
Copyright Owner
The University of Chicago
Copyright Date
2015
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Duthie, A. Bradley; Abbott, Karen C.; and Nason, John D., "Trade-Offs and Coexistence in Fluctuating Environments: Evidence for a Key Dispersal-Fecundity Trade-Off in Five Nonpollinating Fig Wasps" (2015). Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Publications. 72.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/eeob_ag_pubs/72
Comments
This article is from The American Naturalist 186 (2015): 151, doi:10.1086/681621. Posted with permission.