DOI: 10.5061/dryad.68sd84vh
title: Data from: Population responses to perturbations: the importance of trait-based analysis illustrated through a microcosm experiment

description: Environmental change continually perturbs populations from a stable state,
 leading to transient dynamics that can last multiple generations. Several
 long-term studies have reported changes in trait distributions along with
 demographic response to environmental change. Here we conducted an
 experimental study on soil mites and investigated the interaction between
 demography and an individual trait over a period of nonstationary
 dynamics. By following individual fates and body sizes at each
 life-history stage, we investigated how body size and population density
 influenced demographic rates. By comparing the ability of two alternative
 approaches, a matrix projection model and an integral projection model, we
 investigated whether consideration of trait-based demography enhances our
 ability to predict transient dynamics. By utilizing a prospective
 perturbation analysis, we addressed which stage-specific demographic or
 trait-transition rate had the greatest influence on population dynamics.
 Both body size and population density had important effects on most rates;
 however, these effects differed substantially among life-history stages.
 Considering the observed trait-demography relationships resulted in better
 predictions of a population’s response to perturbations, which highlights
 the role of phenotypic plasticity in transient dynamics. Although the
 perturbation analyses provided comparable predictions of stage-specific
 elasticities between the matrix and integral projection models, the order
 of importance of the life-history stages differed between the two
 analyses. In conclusion, we demonstrate how a trait-based demographic
 approach provides further insight into transient population dynamics.
description: Daily sampling of
 individual mitesday: day of the study
 (day t) | no: individual ID for each day | surv: survival to day t+1? |
 stage: life-history stage at day t | stage1: life-history stage at day t+1
 | trns: transition to next stage at day t+1? | tsex: transition to female
 stage at day t+1? | dens: weighted population density at day t | size:
 log(body size) at day t | size1: log(body size) at day t+1 | rep: produced
 eggs at day t+1? | rec: number of eggs produced on day t+1 | day2: number
 of eggs hatched on day t+2 | day3: number of eggs hatched on day t+3 |
 day4: number of eggs hatched on day t+4 | day5: number of eggs hatched on
 day t+5 | day6: number of eggs hatched on day t+6 | day7: number of eggs
 hatched after day t+6 | eggsurv: proportion of eggs hatched | hrate: daily
 hatching rate | eggsize: average log(egg size)ind_data.csvAdditional experiment measuring egg-to-larva size transitioneggSize: log(egg size) | larvaSize: log(larva size)egg_data.csvDaily population censusday: day of the study (day t) | e: number of eggs | l: number of larvae | p: number of protonymphs | t: number of tritonymphs | f: number of female adults | m: number of male adults | group: (c)ontrol or (s)ample group? | dens: weighted population densitypop_census.csv