Diversity and productivity peak at intermediate dispersal rate in evolving metacommunities

P. A. Venail (), R. C. MacLean, T. Bouvier, M. A. Brockhurst, M. E. Hochberg and N. Mouquet ()
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P. A. Venail: Université Montpellier 2, CNRS, UMR 5554 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, CC065 Place Eugène Bataillon,
R. C. MacLean: NERC Center for Population Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus
T. Bouvier: Université Montpellier 2, CNRS, Ifremer, UMR 5119 Ecosystèmes Lagunaires, CC093 Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France
M. A. Brockhurst: School of Biological Sciences, Biosciences Building, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZB, UK
M. E. Hochberg: Université Montpellier 2, CNRS, UMR 5554 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, CC065 Place Eugène Bataillon,
N. Mouquet: Université Montpellier 2, CNRS, UMR 5554 Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, CC065 Place Eugène Bataillon,

Nature, 2008, vol. 452, issue 7184, 210-214

Abstract: Evolution of diversity A number of studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between species diversity and ecosystem productivity over short periods, but little is known about how they relate over evolutionary time. The use of bacteria as a model is one way of cracking the timescale problem. In an experiment in Pseudomonas fluorescens microcosms evolving for around 500 generations, adaptive radiation driven by environmental heterogeneity and dispersal resulted in the de novo evolution of a positive relationship between functional diversity and productivity, which both peak at intermediate dispersal rates. This suggests that evolutionary diversification plays a central role in generating community and ecosystem properties related to those observed in nature.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06554

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