Positive interactions, discontinuous transitions and species coexistence in plant communities

2010 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Díaz-Sierra ◽  
M.A. Zavala ◽  
M. Rietkerk
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Positive Interactions

scholarly journals Neighborhood matters: high phylogenetic diversity of experimental plant assemblages improves community performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocío Chaves ◽  
Pablo Ferrandis ◽  
Adrián Escudero ◽  
Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Phylogenetic Diversity ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Experimental Plant ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Plant Survival ◽  
Niche Complementarity ◽  
Plant Assemblages

Abstract Background and AimsAlthough the role played by phylogeny in the assembly of plant communities remains as a priority to complete the theory of species coexistence, experimental evidence is lacking. It is still unclear to what extent phylogenetic diversity is a driver or a consequence of species assembly processes. We experimentally explored how phylogenetic diversity can drive the community level responses to drought conditions in annual plant communities. To this end, we manipulated the phylogenetic diversity of the species assemblages and the water availability in a common garden experiment with two treatments: average natural rainfall and drought.MethodsWe recorded plant survival and the numbers of flowering and fruiting plants per species in each assemblage. High phylogenetic diversity favored species coexistence over time with higher plant survival and more flowering and fruiting plants, especially under severe drought.Key Results. Our results demonstrate the existence of niche complementarity and the convergence of water economy strategies as major mechanisms for promoting species coexistence in plant assemblages in semiarid Mediterranean habitats.ConclusionsOur findings point to high phylogenetic diversity among neighboring plants as a plausible feature underpinning the recent “united we stand” framework, which states that diffuse positive interactions may promote mechanisms for the persistence of rare species in the community. We suggest that the large species number in the regional species pool may be the consequence of assembly processes occurring at small spatial scales, because the success of each species in terms of surviving and producing offspring was greater when the phylogenetic diversity was higher. Our study is a step forward to understand how phylogenetic relatedness is connected to the mechanisms determining the maintenance of biodiversity.

scholarly journals Multi-scale phenological niches in diverse Amazonian plant communities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damie Pak ◽  
Varun Swamy ◽  
Patricia Alvarez-Loayza ◽  
Fernando Cornejo ◽  
Simon A. Queenborough ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Reproductive Phenology ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Tropical Plant ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Environmental Responses

Phenology has long been hypothesized as an avenue for niche partitioning or interspecific facilitation, both promoting species coexistence. Tropical plant communities exhibit striking diversity in reproductive phenology, including seasonal patterns of fruit production. Here we study whether this phenological diversity is non-random, what are the temporal scales of phenological patterns, and ecological factors that drive reproductive phenology. We applied multivariate wavelet analyses to test for phenological synchrony versus compensatory dynamics (i.e. anti-synchronous patterns where one species' decline is compensated by the rise of another) among species and across temporal scales. We used data from long-term seed rain monitoring of hyperdiverse plant communities in the western Amazon. We found significant synchronous whole-community phenology at a wide range of time scales, consistent with shared environmental responses or positive interactions among species. We also observed both compensatory and synchronous phenology within groups of species likely to share traits (confamilials) and seed dispersal mechanisms. Wind-dispersed species exhibited significant synchrony at ~6 mo scales, suggesting these species share phenological niches to match seasonality of wind. Our results indicate that community phenology is shaped by shared environmental responses but that the diversity of tropical plant phenology partly results from temporal niche partitioning. The scale-specificity and time-localized nature of community phenology patterns highlights the importance of multiple and shifting drivers of phenology.

scholarly journals Impacts of Land-Use Changes on Vegetation and Ecosystem Functioning: Old-Field Secondary Succession

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 990
Author(s):  
Javier Pérez-Hernández ◽  
Rosario G. Gavilán
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Secondary Succession ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Soil Seed Bank ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Dispersal Limitation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Old Field

The study of ecological succession to determine how plant communities re-assemble after a natural or anthropogenic disturbance has always been an important topic in ecology. The understanding of these processes forms part of the new theories of community assembly and species coexistence, and is attracting attention in a context of expanding human impacts. Specifically, new successional studies provide answers to different mechanisms of community assemblage, and aim to define the importance of deterministic or stochastic processes in the succession dynamic. Biotic limits, which depend directly on biodiversity (i.e., species competition), and abiotic filtering, which depends on the environment, become particularly important when they are exceeded, making the succession process more complicated to reach the previous disturbance stage. Plant functional traits (PFTs) are used in secondary succession studies to establish differences between abandonment stages or to compare types of vegetation or flora, and are more closely related to the functioning of plant communities. Dispersal limitation is a PFT considered an important process from a stochastic point of view because it is related to the establishing of plants. Related to it the soil seed bank plays an important role in secondary succession because it is essential for ecosystem functioning. Soil compounds and microbial community are important variables to take into account when studying any succession stage. Chronosequence is the best way to study the whole process at different time scales. Finally, our objective in this review is to show how past studies and new insights are being incorporated into the basis of classic succession. To further explore this subject we have chosen old-field recovery as an example of how a number of different plant communities, including annual and perennial grasslands and shrublands, play an important role in secondary succession.

Network-based analysis reveals differences in plant assembly between the native and the invaded ranges.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura del Rio-Hortega ◽  
Irene Martín-Forés ◽  
Isabel Castro ◽  
José M. de Miguel ◽  
Belén Acosta-Gallo
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Community Assemblage ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Mediterranean Grasslands ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
Detection Strategies

Associated with the introduction of exotic species in a new area, interactions with other native species within the recipient community occur, reshaping the original community and resulting in a unique assemblage. Yet, the differences in community assemblage between native and invaded ranges remain unclear. Mediterranean grasslands provide an excellent scenario to study community assembly following transcontinental naturalisation of plant species. Here we compared the community resemblance of plant communities in Mediterranean grasslands from both the native (Spain) and invaded (Chile) ranges. We used a novel approach based on network analysis applied to co-occurrence analysis in plant communities, allowing us to study the coexistence of native and alien species in central Chile. This useful methodology is presented as a step forward in invasion ecology studies and conservation strategies. We found that community structure differed between the native and the invaded range, with naturalised species displaying more significant interactions and playing a key role within the invaded community. In addition, alien species displayed positive interactions among them within the communities in the invaded range. Alien species acting like keystones within the Chilean grassland communities might exacerbate the threat posed by biological invasions for the native biodiversity assets. We suggest controlling the spread of the alien species identified as keystones and developing early detection strategies in surrounding areas as management guidelines.

Dispersal and life span spectra in plant communities: a key to safe site dynamics, species coexistence and conservation

Ecography ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roel J. Strykstra ◽  
Renée M. Bekker ◽  
Jelte Van Andel
Keyword(s):  
Life Span ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Safe Site

scholarly journals Floral resource-landscapes and pollinator-mediated interactions in plant communities

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Nottebrock ◽  
Baptiste Schmid ◽  
Katharina Mayer ◽  
Céline Devaux ◽  
Karen J. Esler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Seed Set ◽  
Floral Resources ◽  
Allee Effects ◽  
Common Currency ◽  
Visitation Rates ◽  
Nectar Sugar ◽  
Floral Resource

Plant communities provide floral resource-landscapes for pollinators. Yet, it is insufficiently understood how these landscapes shape pollinator-mediated interactions among multiple plant species. Here, we study how pollinators and the seed set of plants respond to the distribution of a floral resource (nectar sugar) in space and across plant species, inflorescences and flowering phenologies. In a global biodiversity hotspot, we quantified floral resource-landscapes on 27 sites of 4 ha comprising 127,993 shrubs of 19 species. Visitation rates of key bird pollinators strongly depended on the phenology of site-scale resource amounts. Seed set of focal plants increased with resources of conspecific neighbours and with site-scale resources, notably with heterospecific resources of lower quality (less sugar per inflorescence). Floral resources are thus a common currency determining how multiple plant species interact via pollinators. These interactions may alter conditions for species coexistence in plant communities and cause community-level Allee effects that promote extinction cascades.

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