Superior Dispersal Ability Can Lead to Persistent Ecological Dominance throughout Succession

• Primrose J. Boynton ^[1] ; Celeste N. Peterson ^[2] ; Anne Pringle ^[3]
  1. [1] Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology

     Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology

     Kreis Plön, Alemania

     
  2. [2] Suffolk University

     Suffolk University

     City of Boston, Estados Unidos

     
  3. [3] University of Wisconsin–Madison

     University of Wisconsin–Madison

     City of Madison, Estados Unidos

     

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• Localización: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, ISSN 0099-2240, Vol. 85, Nº 6, 2019
• Idioma: inglés
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  • Microbial communities are ubiquitous and occupy nearly every imaginable habitat and resource, including human-influenced habitats (e.g., fermenting food and hospital surfaces) and habitats with little human influence (e.g., aquatic communities living in carnivorous plant pitchers). We studied yeast communities living in pitchers of the carnivorous purple pitcher plant to understand how and why microbial communities change over time. We found that dispersal ability is not only important for fungal communities early in their existence, it can also determine which species is dominant (here, the yeast Candida pseudoglaebosa) long after the species and its competitors have arrived. These results contrast with observations from many human-influenced habitats, in which a good competitor eventually outcompetes good dispersers, since humans often design these habitats to favor a specific competitor. This study will help microbiologists understand the qualities of microbial species that enable takeover of new habitats in both natural and human-influenced environments.