Am Nat. 2019 Aug;194(2):135-151. doi: 10.1086/704168. Epub 2019 Jun 24.
Although metacommunity ecology has improved our understanding of how dispersal affects community structure and dynamics across spatial scales, it has yet to adequately account for dormancy. Dormancy is a reversible state of reduced metabolic activity that enables temporal dispersal within the metacommunity. Dormancy is also a metacommunity-level process because it can covary with spatial dispersal and affect diversity across spatial scales. We develop a framework to integrate dispersal and dormancy, focusing on the covariation they exhibit, to predict how dormancy modifies the importance of species interactions, dispersal, and historical contingencies in metacommunities. We used empirical and modeling approaches to demonstrate the utility of this framework. We examined case studies of microcrustaceans in ephemeral ponds, where dormancy underlies metacommunity dynamics, and identified constraints on the dispersal and dormancy strategies of bromeliad-dwelling invertebrates. Using simulations, we showed that dormancy can alter classic metacommunity patterns of diversity in ways that depend on dispersal-dormancy covariation and spatiotemporal environmental variability. We propose that dormancy may also facilitate evolution-mediated priority effects if locally adapted seed banks prevent colonization by more dispersal-limited species. Last, we present testable predictions for the implications of dormancy in metacommunities, some of which may fundamentally alter our understanding of metacommunity ecology.
尽管元社区生态学提高了我们对扩散如何影响跨空间尺度的群落结构和动态的理解，但它尚未充分考虑休眠。休眠是一种代谢活性降低的可逆状态，使时间扩散在元社区内成为可能。休眠也是一个元社区层面的过程，因为它可以与空间扩散相关，并影响跨空间尺度的多样性。我们开发了一个整合扩散和休眠的框架，重点关注它们表现出的共变，以预测休眠如何改变物种相互作用、扩散和元社区中历史偶然性的重要性。我们使用实证和建模方法来证明该框架的实用性。我们研究了短暂池塘中微型甲壳类动物的案例研究，其中休眠是元社区动态的基础，并确定了对附生在凤梨科植物上的无脊椎动物的扩散和休眠策略的限制。通过模拟，我们表明休眠可以以依赖于扩散-休眠共变和时空环境可变性的方式改变多样性的经典元社区模式。我们提出，如果局部适应的种子库阻止了扩散能力有限的物种的定植，休眠也可能促进进化介导的优先效应。最后，我们提出了休眠在元社区中的影响的可检验预测，其中一些可能从根本上改变我们对元社区生态学的理解。
