The Metatron

Delphine Legrand (1) , Olivier Guillaume (1) , Michel Baguette (2) , Julien Cote (3) , Audrey Trochet (4) , Olivier Calvez (4) , Susanne Zajitschek (4) , Felix Zajitschek (4) , Jane Lecomte (4) , Quentin Bénard (5) , Jean-François Le Galliard (5) , Jean Clobert (5)

1 SEEM - Station d’Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis
2 MAOAC - Mécanismes adaptatifs : des organismes aux communautés
3 EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique
4 ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution
5 Laboratoire Ecologie et évolution

Dispersal of organisms generates gene flow between populations. Identifying factors that influence dispersal will help predict how species will cope with rapid environmental change. We developed an innovative infrastructure, the Metatron, composed of 48 interconnected patches, designed for the study of terrestrial organism movement as a model for dispersal. Corridors between patches can be flexibly open or closed. Temperature, humidity and illuminance can be independently controlled within each patch. The modularity and adaptability of the Metatron provide the opportunity for robust experimental design for the study of 'meta-systems'. We describe a pilot experiment on populations of the butterfly Pieris brassicae and the lizard Zootoca vivipara in the Metatron. Both species survived and showed both disperser and resident phenotypes. The Metatron offers the opportunity to test theoretical models in spatial ecology.

Mots clés: Bioinformatics; Hardware and infrastructure; Theoretical ecology

Domaines: Ecologie, Environnement; Evolution [q-bio.PE]

Delphine Legrand, Olivier Guillaume, Michel Baguette, Julien Cote, Audrey Trochet, et al.. The Metatron: an experimental system to study dispersal and metaecosystems for terrestrial organisms. Nature Methods, 2012, 9 (8), pp.828-833. ⟨10.1038/nmeth.2104⟩. ⟨hal-02120989⟩