DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4dj10
title: Data from: Tradeoffs and coexistence in fluctuating environments: evidence for a key dispersal-fecundity tradeoff in five nonpollinating fig wasps

description: The ecological principle of competitive exclusion states that species
 competing for identical resources cannot coexist, but this principle is
 paradoxical because ecologically similar competitors are regularly
 observed. Coexistence is possible under some conditions if a fluctuating
 environment changes the competitive dominance of species. This change in
 competitive dominance implies the existence of tradeoffs underlying
 species' competitive abilities in different environments. Theory
 shows that fluctuating distance between resource patches can facilitate
 coexistence in ephemeral patch competitors given a functional tradeoff
 between species dispersal ability and fecundity. We find evidence
 supporting this tradeoff in a guild of five ecologically similar
 nonpollinating fig wasps, and subsequently predict local among patch
 species densities. We also introduce a novel `colonization index' to
 estimate relative dispersal ability among ephemeral patch competitors. We
 suggest that a dispersal ability-fecundity tradeoff and spatiotemporally
 fluctuating resource availability commonly cooccur to drive population
 dynamics and facilitate coexistence in ephemeral patch communities.
description: Ficus petiolaris wasp
 count dataIncludes counts of all
 female non-pollinating fig wasps from the syconia of the Sonoran Desert
 rock fig, Ficus petiolaris. The data file includes the site, tree and
 syconia (`Fruit') labels from each syconia sampled (rows); the data
 also includes columns indicating tree lat-lon coordinates, pollinating
 foundresses arriving to the syconia (corpses remain within syconia), fruit
 volume, counts of all wasp species, and the number of neighbours a tree
 has within a 1 km radius. The pollinator (`Poll') is an unnamed (as
 of 2015) species of Pegoscapus. Wasps `LO1', `SO1', and
 `SO2' are all unnamed species of the genus Idarnes, and wasps
 `Het1' and `Het2' are both unnamed species of the genus
 Heterandrium. The wasps `Physo' and `Aepoc' are wasps of unnamed
 species of the genera Physothorax and Aepocerus, respectively; `NA'
 denotes missing values.wasp_data.csvFicus petiolaris wasp wing loadingsThis file includes measurements to estimate wing loading for 83 wasps (rows) of the species of interest in Duthie et al. (2015): LO1 (unnamed Idarnes), SO1 (unnamed Idarnes), SO2 (unnamed Idarnes), Het1 (unnamed Heterandrium), and Het2 (unnamed Heterandrium). Each row is a single wasp, and columns show the site, tree, and fruit from which the wasp was sampled. Lengths and widths of wasp heads, thoraxes, and abdomens are included as measured at their widest points (e.g., for the wasp abdomen, the whole length of the segment is reported, along with an estimate of its width at the widest point). Wing areas were calculated using wing images and ImageJ software.wing_loadings.csvFicus petiolaris wasp egg loadsFile includes estimates of wasp egg loads from 54 wasps (rows) of the following species: LO1 (unnamed Idarnes), SO1 (unnamed Idarnes), SO2 (unnamed Idarnes), Het1 (unnamed Heterandrium), and Het2 (unnamed Heterandrium). Both mature and immature egg counts were estimated, and columns include the site, tree, and fruit from which the wasp was sampled.egg_loads.csvR code for Ficus petiolaris wasp data analysisThe subsequent code replicates the analyses used in Duthie et al. (2015) American Naturalist. All data were collected in 2010 in the field from populations of Sonoran Desert rock fig (Ficus petiolaris) trees. For this analysis, three files are needed: `wasp_data.csv', `wing_loadings.csv', and `egg_loads.csv'.analysis.R