Disturbance is thought to be a major factor influencing patterns of biodiversity. In addition, disturbance can modify community composition if there are species specific trade-offs between fitness and disturbance tolerance. Here, we examine the role of disturbance on the evolution of coexisting biofilm-forming morphotypes of Pseudomonas fluorescens maintained in spatially structured laboratory microcosms. We identified four heritably stable ecotypes that varied significantly in their competitiveness under different disturbance treatments. Furthermore, we identified significant trade-offs in competitiveness across disturbance treatments for three of four of these ecotypes. These trade-offs modified dominance relationships between strains and thus altered community composition, with a peak of ecotype diversity occurring at intermediate disturbance frequencies.
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1 November 2009
Fitness Trade-Offs Modify Community Composition Under Contrasting Disturbance Regimes in Pseudomonas fluorescens Microcosms
Daniel J. P. Engelmoer,
Daniel E. Rozen
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Evolution
Vol. 63 • No. 11
November 2009
Vol. 63 • No. 11
November 2009
biodiversity
Biofilm
evolutionary ecology
experimental evolution
intermediate disturbance hypothesis