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SUMMARY:Disturbance\, dispersal and diversity: Aquatic metacommunities in 
 times of global changes
DTSTART:20131112T161500
DTEND:20131112T171500
DTSTAMP:20260506T195436Z
UID:ccd3be1e1616339ce63777c0906198454a67c062abb3bf6a7ab052be
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Florian Altermatt\, Spatial Dynamics group\,  Aquatic Ecol
 ogy Dept.\, EAWAG\nAbstract:\nUnderstanding biological diversity is one of
  the most challenging and most active fields in ecology. Simple theoretica
 l models predict that only few species should coexist. Contrarily\, we com
 monly observe that natural communities are astonishingly diverse. Freshwat
 er systems are among the most diverse habitats on Earth\, but currently hi
 ghly threatened due to water pollution\, habitat modification\, global war
 ming or the spread of non-native species. Thus\, understanding the drivers
  of diversity is urgently needed to eventually protect biotic diversity an
 d ecosystem functioning.\nUntil recently\, studies on diversity patterns h
 ave largely focused on local environmental conditions\, and have ignored t
 he specific spatial structure of the landscape. The spatial structure of m
 any natural systems\, however\, is complex and often very distinct: ponds 
 are patchy islands in a sea of land\, while rivers and streams are arrange
 d in a characteristic hierarchical structure.\nIn my group\, we study how 
 local environmental factors and dispersal among habitat patches interact a
 nd affect community composition and diversity. We use a combined comparati
 ve and experimental approach. First\, I will show results from large datas
 ets of natural metacommunities of aquatic insects and crustaceans from Fin
 land and Switzerland. We find that species interactions and dispersal of i
 nvertebrates is affected by environmental disturbances and global warming 
 in non-trivial ways. Importantly\, dispersal along the habitat network str
 ucture is a likely driver of diversity\, resulting in characteristic diver
 sity patterns. Second\, we use laboratory microcosm-experiments to causall
 y understand the drivers of these diversity patterns. The experiments are 
 designed in parallel of mathematical models. We find that dispersal-based 
 models correctly predict diversity with respect to number of species\, but
  that the species’ identity is often selected by local environmental fac
 tors. Taken together\, our results explain how dispersal links local envir
 onmental processes with regional diversity patterns and community composit
 ion. Eventually\, our findings can be applied to aquatic systems\, either 
 to protect endangered species\, or to prevent the invasion of non-native s
 pecies.Dr Florian Altermatt\, tenure track group leader of Spatial Dynamic
 s at the Department of Aquatic Ecology\, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of
  Aquatic Science and Technology (ETH-branch) in Dübendorf\, Switzerland s
 ince 2011. His and his group's research questions focus at the intersectio
 n of ecology and evolution\, and aim at understanding how species occur in
  space and time and how they interact\, i.e. the effects of species invasi
 ons and dispersal on natural communities. Metapopulation and metacommunity
  theory provide a conceptual framework for the research activities using b
 oth experimental and comparative approaches\, while closely collaborating 
 with theoreticians.
LOCATION:GR A3 31 http://plan.epfl.ch/?room=GR%20A3%2031
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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