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Cited by 131Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesEcosystem dynamics and resilienceMicrobial Community Ecology and Physiology

COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY IN THE PRESENCE OF DISTURBANCE: A MICROCOSM EXPERIMENT

Jiang, Lin, Patel, Shivani N.·2008·Ecology
DOI 10.1890/07-1263.1
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Abstract

Ecologists know relatively little about the manner in which disturbance affects the likelihood of alternative community stable states and how the history of community assembly affects the relationship between disturbance and species diversity. Using microbial communities comprising bacterivorous ciliated protists assembled in laboratory microcosms, we experimentally investigated these questions by independently manipulating the intensity of disturbance (in the form of density-independent mortality) and community assembly history (including a control treatment with simultaneous species introduction and five sequential assembly treatments). Species diversity patterns consistent with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis emerged in the controls, as several species showed responses indicative of a tradeoff between competitive ability and ability to recover from disturbance. Species diversity in communities with sequential assembly, however, generally declined with disturbance, owing to the increased extinction risk of later colonizers at the intermediate level of disturbance. Similarities among communities subjected to different assembly histories increased with disturbance, a result due possibly to increasing disturbance reducing the importance of competition and hence priority effects. This finding is most consistent with the idea that increasing disturbance tends to reduce the likelihood of alternative stable states. Collectively, these results indicate the strong interactive effects of disturbance and assembly history on the structure of ecological communities.

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  • The high Shannon diversity values in the Sandawe are consistent with the "Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis" which proposes diversity of bacteria is maximized under conditions of fluctuating environments.

    “The high Shannon diversity values in the Sandawe are consistent with the “Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis” which proposes diversity of bacteria is maximized under conditions of fluctuating environments (e.g., diet in this case) [55, 56].”

    From Population structure of human gut bacteria in a diverse cohort from rural Tanzania and Botswana (2019) · cites this paper as [56]

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Lewontin, R. C. 1969. The meaning of stability. Pages 13-24 in Diversity and stability in ecological systems. Brookhaven Symposium in Biology 22. Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York, USA.

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Authors
Jiang, L., & Patel, S. N.
Affiliations
Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
Corresponding author
Jiang, Lin
ORCID
Venue
Ecology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2008-07
Volume
89
Issue
7
Pages
1931-1940
ISSN
0012-9658 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1890/07-1263.1
OpenAlex
W2168213869
Cited by
131
References
53
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 3
FWCI
7.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
doi.wiley.com/10.1002/tdm_license_1.1 (tdm, 2618 d)
Locations
  • Ecology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • SMARTech Repository (Georgia Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Ecosystem dynamics and resilience
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
Keywords
community assembly, disturbance, intermediate disturbance hypothesis, alternative stable states, microbial communities, species diversity, priority effects, competitive ability, extinction risk, density-independent mortality, microcosm experiments
MeSH terms
Animals, Population Dynamics, Species Specificity, Ecosystem, Eukaryota

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