DISPERSE, a trait database to assess the dispersal potential of European aquatic macroinvertebrates
Romain Sarremejane, Núria Cid, Rachel Stubbington, Thibault Datry, Maria Alp, Miguel Cañedo‐Argüelles, Adolfo Cordero‐Rivera, Zoltán Csabai, Cayetano Gutiérrez‐Cánovas, Jani Heino, Maxence Forcellini, Andrés Millán, Amael Paillex, Petr Pařil, Marek Polášek, José Manuel Tierno de Figueroa, Philippe Usseglio‐Polatera, Carmen Zamora‐Muñoz, Núria Bonada
Abstract
Dispersal is an essential process in population and community dynamics, but is difficult to measure in the field. In freshwater ecosystems, information on biological traits related to organisms' morphology, life history and behaviour provides useful dispersal proxies, but information remains scattered or unpublished for many taxa. We compiled information on multiple dispersal-related biological traits of European aquatic macroinvertebrates in a unique resource, the DISPERSE database. DISPERSE includes nine dispersal-related traits subdivided into 39 trait categories for 480 taxa, including Annelida, Mollusca, Platyhelminthes, and Arthropoda such as Crustacea and Insecta, generally at the genus level. Information within DISPERSE can be used to address fundamental research questions in metapopulation ecology, metacommunity ecology, macroecology and evolutionary ecology. Information on dispersal proxies can be applied to improve predictions of ecological responses to global change, and to inform improvements to biomonitoring, conservation and management strategies. The diverse sources used in DISPERSE complement existing trait databases by providing new information on dispersal traits, most of which would not otherwise be accessible to the scientific community.