Cargando…

Inherent High Correlation of Individual Motility Enhances Population Dispersal in a Heterotrophic, Planktonic Protist

Quantitative linkages between individual organism movements and the resulting population distributions are fundamental to understanding a wide range of ecological processes, including rates of reproduction, consumption, and mortality, as well as the spread of diseases and invasions. Typically, quant...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Menden-Deuer, Susanne
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2958803/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20975936
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000942
_version_ 1782188372185317376
author Menden-Deuer, Susanne
author_facet Menden-Deuer, Susanne
author_sort Menden-Deuer, Susanne
collection PubMed
description Quantitative linkages between individual organism movements and the resulting population distributions are fundamental to understanding a wide range of ecological processes, including rates of reproduction, consumption, and mortality, as well as the spread of diseases and invasions. Typically, quantitative data are collected on either movement behaviors or population distributions, rarely both. This study combines empirical observations and model simulations to gain a mechanistic understanding and predictive ability of the linkages between both individual movement behaviors and population distributions of a single-celled planktonic herbivore. In the laboratory, microscopic 3D movements and macroscopic population distributions were simultaneously quantified in a 1L tank, using automated video- and image-analysis routines. The vertical velocity component of cell movements was extracted from the empirical data and used to motivate a series of correlated random walk models that predicted population distributions. Validation of the model predictions with empirical data was essential to distinguish amongst a number of theoretically plausible model formulations. All model predictions captured the essence of the population redistribution (mean upward drift) but only models assuming long correlation times ([Image: see text]minute), captured the variance in population distribution. Models assuming correlation times of [Image: see text]8 minutes predicted the least deviation from the empirical observations. Autocorrelation analysis of the empirical data failed to identify a de-correlation time in the up to 30-second-long swimming trajectories. These minute-scale estimates are considerably greater than previous estimates of second-scale correlation times. Considerable cell-to-cell variation and behavioral heterogeneity were critical to these results. Strongly correlated random walkers were predicted to have significantly greater dispersal distances and more rapid encounters with remote targets (e.g. resource patches, predators) than weakly correlated random walkers. The tendency to disperse rapidly in the absence of aggregative stimuli has important ramifications for the ecology and biogeography of planktonic organisms that perform this kind of random walk.
format Text
id pubmed-2958803
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2010
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-29588032010-10-25 Inherent High Correlation of Individual Motility Enhances Population Dispersal in a Heterotrophic, Planktonic Protist Menden-Deuer, Susanne PLoS Comput Biol Research Article Quantitative linkages between individual organism movements and the resulting population distributions are fundamental to understanding a wide range of ecological processes, including rates of reproduction, consumption, and mortality, as well as the spread of diseases and invasions. Typically, quantitative data are collected on either movement behaviors or population distributions, rarely both. This study combines empirical observations and model simulations to gain a mechanistic understanding and predictive ability of the linkages between both individual movement behaviors and population distributions of a single-celled planktonic herbivore. In the laboratory, microscopic 3D movements and macroscopic population distributions were simultaneously quantified in a 1L tank, using automated video- and image-analysis routines. The vertical velocity component of cell movements was extracted from the empirical data and used to motivate a series of correlated random walk models that predicted population distributions. Validation of the model predictions with empirical data was essential to distinguish amongst a number of theoretically plausible model formulations. All model predictions captured the essence of the population redistribution (mean upward drift) but only models assuming long correlation times ([Image: see text]minute), captured the variance in population distribution. Models assuming correlation times of [Image: see text]8 minutes predicted the least deviation from the empirical observations. Autocorrelation analysis of the empirical data failed to identify a de-correlation time in the up to 30-second-long swimming trajectories. These minute-scale estimates are considerably greater than previous estimates of second-scale correlation times. Considerable cell-to-cell variation and behavioral heterogeneity were critical to these results. Strongly correlated random walkers were predicted to have significantly greater dispersal distances and more rapid encounters with remote targets (e.g. resource patches, predators) than weakly correlated random walkers. The tendency to disperse rapidly in the absence of aggregative stimuli has important ramifications for the ecology and biogeography of planktonic organisms that perform this kind of random walk. Public Library of Science 2010-10-21 /pmc/articles/PMC2958803/ /pubmed/20975936 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000942 Text en Susanne Menden-Deuer. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Menden-Deuer, Susanne
Inherent High Correlation of Individual Motility Enhances Population Dispersal in a Heterotrophic, Planktonic Protist
title Inherent High Correlation of Individual Motility Enhances Population Dispersal in a Heterotrophic, Planktonic Protist
title_full Inherent High Correlation of Individual Motility Enhances Population Dispersal in a Heterotrophic, Planktonic Protist
title_fullStr Inherent High Correlation of Individual Motility Enhances Population Dispersal in a Heterotrophic, Planktonic Protist
title_full_unstemmed Inherent High Correlation of Individual Motility Enhances Population Dispersal in a Heterotrophic, Planktonic Protist
title_short Inherent High Correlation of Individual Motility Enhances Population Dispersal in a Heterotrophic, Planktonic Protist
title_sort inherent high correlation of individual motility enhances population dispersal in a heterotrophic, planktonic protist
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2958803/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20975936
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000942
work_keys_str_mv AT mendendeuersusanne inherenthighcorrelationofindividualmotilityenhancespopulationdispersalinaheterotrophicplanktonicprotist