Data from: Condition-dependent movement and dispersal in experimental metacommunities

Dispersal and the underlying movement behaviour are processes of pivotal importance for understanding and predicting metapopulation and metacommunity dynamics. Generally, dispersal decisions are condition-dependent and rely on information in the broad sense, like the presence of conspecifics. However, studies on metacommunities that include interspecific interactions generally disregard condition-dependence. Therefore, it remains unclear whether and how dispersal in metacommunities is condition-dependent and whether rules derived from single-species contexts can be scaled up to (meta)communities. Using experimental protist metacommunities, we show how dispersal and movement depend on and are adjusted by the strength of interspecific interactions. We found that the predicting movement and dispersal in metacommunities requires knowledge on behavioural responses to intra- and interspecific interaction strengths. Consequently, metacommunity dynamics inferred directly from single-species metapopulations without taking interspecific interactions into account are likely flawed. Our work identifies the significance of condition-dependence for understanding metacommunity dynamics, stability and the coexistence and distribution of species.扩散及其内在的运动行为，是理解与预测集合种群（metapopulation）和集合群落（metacommunity）动态的核心关键过程。通常而言，扩散决策具有条件依赖性，且依赖广义层面的信息——例如同种个体（conspecifics）的存在与否。然而，现有涉及种间相互作用（interspecific interactions）的集合群落研究，大多忽视了条件依赖性这一特性。因此，目前仍存在两个尚未明确的问题：其一，集合群落中的扩散是否具备条件依赖性，以及其条件依赖的具体机制；其二，从单物种种群集合种群情境中推导得出的规则，能否推广至（集合）群落之中。本研究借助实验性原生生物（protist）集合群落，阐明了扩散与运动如何依赖种间相互作用强度，并随该强度发生适应性调整。研究发现，若要精准预测集合群落中的运动与扩散过程，必须掌握生物对种内和种间相互作用强度的行为响应机制。因此，若直接从单物种种群集合种群推导集合群落动态，却未纳入种间相互作用的考量，所得结论大概率存在缺陷。本研究明确了条件依赖性对于解析集合群落动态、群落稳定性以及物种共存与分布格局的重要意义。