Abstract
Dispersal and dormancy are two common strategies allowing for species persistence and the maintenance of ecological diversity in variable environments. However, theory and empirical tests of spatial diversity patterns tend to examine either mechanism in isolation. Here, we developed a stochastic, spatially explicit metacommunity model incorporating seed banks with varying germination and survival rates. We found that dormancy and dispersal had interactive, nonlinear effects on the maintenance and distribution of metacommunity diversity, where scale-dependent effects of seed banks were modified by local competitive interactions and dispersal. The interplay between seed germination and survival regulated the benefits of seed banks for diversity. Our study shows that the role of seed banks depends critically on spatial processes, and that classic predictions for how dispersal affects metacommunity diversity can be strongly influenced by dormancy. Together, these results highlight the need to consider both temporal and spatial storage when predicting multi-scale patterns of diversity.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
email: lshoema1{at}uwyo.edu
Data accessibility statement: Upon acceptance, all data will be archived on Dryad and the data DOI will be included at the end of the article. Model code is available on GitHub, with the URL included in the manuscript.
Statement of authorship: NIW and LGS conceived the study, developed the approach, and wrote the paper. NIW wrote the first draft of the manuscript, implemented the model and analysis, and made the figures.