Effects of phenotypic variation on consumer coexistence and prey community structure,Ecology Letters

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Effects of phenotypic variation on consumer coexistence and prey community structure
Ecology Letters ( IF 7.6 ) Pub Date : 2021-11-22 , DOI: 10.1111/ele.13924
Shane L Hogle ₁ , Iina Hepolehto _{2,

3} , Lasse Ruokolainen ₃ , Johannes Cairns _{4,

5} , Teppo Hiltunen ₁

Affiliation

A popular idea in ecology is that trait variation among individuals from the same species may promote the coexistence of competing species. However, theoretical and empirical tests of this idea have yielded inconsistent findings. We manipulated intraspecific trait diversity in a ciliate competing with a nematode for bacterial prey in experimental microcosms. We found that intraspecific trait variation inverted the original competitive hierarchy to favour the consumer with variable traits, ultimately resulting in competitive exclusion. This competitive outcome was driven by foraging traits (size, speed and directionality) that increased the ciliate's fitness ratio and niche overlap with the nematode. The interplay between consumer trait variation and competition resulted in non-additive cascading effects—mediated through prey defence traits—on prey community assembly. Our results suggest that predicting consumer competitive population dynamics and the assembly of prey communities will require understanding the complexities of trait variation within consumer species.

中文翻译：

表型变异对消费者共存和猎物群落结构的影响

生态学中的一个流行观点是，同一物种个体之间的性状变异可能会促进竞争物种的共存。然而，对这一想法的理论和实证检验得出了不一致的结果。我们在实验微观世界中操纵了纤毛虫与线虫竞争细菌猎物的种内性状多样性。我们发现，种内性状变异颠倒了原来的竞争等级，有利于具有可变性状的消费者，最终导致竞争排斥。这种竞争结果是由觅食特征（大小、速度和方向性）驱动的，这些特征增加了纤毛虫的适应度和与线虫的生态位重叠。消费者特征变异和竞争之间的相互作用导致了对猎物群落组装的非加性级联效应（通过猎物防御特征介导）。我们的结果表明，预测消费者竞争种群动态和猎物群落的组装将需要了解消费者物种内性状变异的复杂性。

更新日期：2021-11-22

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