Data from: Breaking down the components of the competition-colonization trade-off: new insights into its role in diverse systems

1. Performance trade-offs between competition and colonization can be an
important mechanism facilitating regional coexistence of competitors.
However, empirical evidence for this trade-off is mixed, raising questions
about the extent to which it shapes diverse ecological communities. Here
we outline a framework that can be used to improve empirical tests of the
competition-colonization trade-off. 2. We argue that tests of the
competition-colonization trade-off have been diverted into unproductive
paths when dispersal mode and/or competition type have been inadequately
defined. To generate comparative predictions of associations between
dispersal and competitive performance, we develop a conceptual trait-based
framework that clarifies how dispersal mode and type of competitor shape
this trade-off at the stage of dispersal and establishment in a variety of
systems. Our framework suggests that competition-colonization trade-offs
may be less common for passively dispersing organisms when competitive
dominants are those best able to withstand resource depletion (competitive
response), and for active dispersers when traits for dispersal performance
are positively associated with resource pre-emption (competitive effect).
3. The framework presented here is designed to provide common ground for
researchers working in different systems in order to prompt more effective
assessment of this performance trade-off and its role in shaping community
structure. By delineating key system properties that mediate the trade-off
between competitive and colonization performance and their relationship to
individual-level traits, researchers in disparate systems can structure
their predictions about this trade-off more effectively and compare across
systems more clearly.