PARENT SESSION
Symposium 21: Miniature Worlds? Natural Microcosms as Model Ecological Systems
Organized by: D Srivastava and J Kolasa
Thursday, August 7. 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM, SITCC Chatham Ballroom C.
Diversity, abundance and biomass dynamics in fragmented landscapes: insights from a bryophyte-based natural microcosm.
Gonzalez, Andrew*,1, 1 Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, 75230, France
ABSTRACT- I provide a synthesis of the key results obtained from a series of experiments, using a bryophyte-based microecosystem, conducted to examine the manifold effects of habitat fragmentation. This microecosystem is conceived as an experimental model system, and I will argue that the general nature of the observed patterns and dynamics highlight its value as a natural analogue for the effects of fragmentation at larger spatial scales. In particular I will focus upon the role dispersal plays in mediating the interaction between local and regional community pattern and dynamics. Specifically data will be presented showing how habitat fragmentation as a perturbation induces a disassembly dynamic that is reflected in changes at the population (abundances), community (diversity and biomass production) and metacommunity (range-abundance relation) level, and how habitat inter-connection can ameliorate these effects.
Key words: Extinction, Metacommunities, Diassembly, Microecosystem