scholarly journals Can Functional Traits Explain Plant Coexistence? A Case Study with Tropical Lianas and Trees

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 397
Author(s):  
Felipe N. A. Mello ◽  
Sergio Estrada-Villegas ◽  
David M. DeFilippis ◽  
Stefan A. Schnitzer
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Morphological And Physiological Traits ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Plant Coexistence

Organisms are adapted to their environment through a suite of anatomical, morphological, and physiological traits. These functional traits are commonly thought to determine an organism’s tolerance to environmental conditions. However, the differences in functional traits among co-occurring species, and whether trait differences mediate competition and coexistence is still poorly understood. Here we review studies comparing functional traits in two co-occurring tropical woody plant guilds, lianas and trees, to understand whether competing plant guilds differ in functional traits and how these differences may help to explain tropical woody plant coexistence. We examined 36 separate studies that compared a total of 140 different functional traits of co-occurring lianas and trees. We conducted a meta-analysis for ten of these functional traits, those that were present in at least five studies. We found that the mean trait value between lianas and trees differed significantly in four of the ten functional traits. Lianas differed from trees mainly in functional traits related to a faster resource acquisition life history strategy. However, the lack of difference in the remaining six functional traits indicates that lianas are not restricted to the fast end of the plant life–history continuum. Differences in functional traits between lianas and trees suggest these plant guilds may coexist in tropical forests by specializing in different life–history strategies, but there is still a significant overlap in the life–history strategies between these two competing guilds.

Effect of time of day, time of year, and life history strategy on time budgeting in juvenile Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar

1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 2397-2403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sveinn K Valdimarsson ◽  
Neil B Metcalfe
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Atlantic Salmon ◽  
Salmo Salar ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Atlantic Salmon Salmo Salar ◽  
Juvenile Atlantic Salmon ◽  
Time Of Year

Traditionally, behavioural studies on juvenile Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, have been conducted during the day in summer. It is known that Atlantic salmon become nocturnal in winter, but very little is known about their behaviour at that time. Therefore, observations in a seminatural stream were carried out during the day and night, from February to June, comparing diel and seasonal differences in behaviour between fish adopting alternative life history strategies. The results showed a general trend for more activity in spring than in winter, and the fish were found to be foraging at surprisingly low light levels. There were differences in relative feeding rate between the life history strategies; the early migrant fish foraged mostly during the day whereas the delayed migrant fish did more foraging at night. There is some evidence that the early migrant fish made fewer feeding attempts over the winter, which is surprising, since they grow faster over that period. This suggests differences in foraging efficiency, which could contribute to the separation into these two life history strategies.

A structural gradient in cerrado vegetation of Brazil: changes in woody plant density, species richness, life history and plant composition

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 775-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luci Ferreira Ribeiro ◽  
Marcelo Tabarelli
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Plant Density ◽  
Lower Layer ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Cerrado Vegetation ◽  
Structural Types

Four structural types of cerrado vegetation were examined to test the following hypotheses: (1) there are predictable changes in woody plant density, species richness and life-history strategies from one structural type to another; and (2) plant species composition in the less-rich structural types represent particular and impoverished subsets of those found in the richer ones. The study was conducted at Fazenda Palmares (5°33′S, 42°37′W) Piauí State, Brazil. A 47% decrease in woody plant density between cerradão (forest) and the least-dense type of cerrado sensu stricto (scrub) was associated with a 40% decrease in species richness. The percentage of lower-layer species was reduced by 29% in the least dense type of cerrado sensu stricto compared to cerradão. The proportion of species that flower and fruit during the rainy season was also reduced by one third. Species were not distributed as impoverished subsets along the cerradão–cerrado sensu stricto gradient. It is argued that the reduction in woody plant density and richness is partly due to factors limiting the occurrence of species with particular life-history strategies. The species composition of structural types is affected by the ‘mass effect’ and also by surrounding biotas, which provide species that colonize particular types of cerrado vegetation. Both these processes reduce the likelihood that the species composition in the poorer structural types are simple subsets of those present in the richer types.

scholarly journals Are we missing the forest for the trees? Conspecific negative density dependence in a temperate deciduous forest

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn E. Barry ◽  
Stefan A. Schnitzer
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Density Dependence ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Temperate Forest ◽  
Woody Plant ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Canopy Trees ◽  
Negative Density Dependence

AbstractOne of the central goals of ecology is to determine the mechanisms that enable coexistence among species. Evidence is accruing that conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD), the process by which plant seedlings are unable to survive in the area surrounding adults of their same species, is a major contributor to tree species coexistence. However, for CNDD to maintain diversity, three conditions must be met. First, CNDD must maintain diversity for the majority of the woody plant community (rather than merely specific groups). Second, the pattern of repelled recruitment must increase in with plant size. Third, CNDD must occurs across life history strategies and not be restricted to a single life history strategy. These three conditions are rarely tested simultaneously. In this study, we simultaneously test all three conditions in a woody plant community in a North American temperate forest. We examined whether the different woody plant growth forms (shrubs, understory trees, mid-story trees, canopy trees, and lianas) at different ontogenetic stages (seedling, sapling, and adult) were overdispersed – a spatial pattern indicative of CNDD – using spatial point pattern analysis across life history stages and strategies. We found that there was a strong signal of overdispersal at the community level. However, this pattern was driven by adult canopy trees. By contrast, understory plants, which can constitute up to 80% of temperate forest plant diversity, were not overdispersed as adults. The lack of overdispersal suggests that CNDD is unlikely to be a major mechanism maintaining understory plant diversity. The focus on trees for the vast majority of CNDD studies may have biased the perception of the prevalence of CNDD as a dominant mechanism that maintains community-level diversity when, according to our data, CNDD may be restricted largely to trees.

Life History Strategies

2018 ◽  
pp. 95-126
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life History Theory ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Extended Model ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Basic Model

The chapter introduces the basics of life history theory, the concept of life history strategy, and the fast–slow continuum of variation. After reviewing applications to animal behavior and physiology, the chapter reviews current theory and evidence on individual differences in humans as manifestations of alternative life history strategies. The chapter first presents a “basic model” of human life history–related traits, then advances an “extended model” that identifies multiple cognitive-behavioral profiles within fast and slow strategies. Specifically, it is proposed that slow strategies comprise prosocial/caregiving and skilled/provisioning profiles, whereas fast strategies comprise antisocial/exploitative and seductive/creative profiles. The chapter also reviews potential neurobiological markers of life history variation and considers key methodological issues in this area.

scholarly journals RETRACTED ARTICLE: Novel life history strategy in a deep sea fish challenges assumptions about reproduction in extreme environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Randal A. Singer ◽  
Jon A. Moore ◽  
Edward L. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Deep Ocean ◽  
Homogeneous System ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Retracted Article ◽  
Sea Fish

Abstract The deep ocean is frequently assumed to be a homogeneous system lacking the same diverse life history strategies found in shallower waters. However, as our methods for exploring the deep ocean improve, common assumptions about dispersal, reproduction and behavior are constantly being challenged. Fishes exhibit the most diverse reproductive strategies among vertebrates. Understanding life history strategies in deep-sea environments is lacking for many species of fishes. Here, we report a novel reproductive strategy where a fish (Parazen pacificus) provides parental care via mouth brooding. This behavior is observed from a specimen collected with eggs present in the buccal cavity, along with other specimens exhibiting pre-brooding morphologies. This is the first description of this unique life history trait in a deep-sea fish and fills in a gap in the larval literature for this family of fishes and prompts further investigation into other novel reproductive modes of deep-sea fauna.

scholarly journals Functional traits explain variation in plant life history strategies

2013 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 740-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. B. Adler ◽  
R. Salguero-Gomez ◽  
A. Compagnoni ◽  
J. S. Hsu ◽  
J. Ray-Mukherjee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Plant Life

Leadership in dangerous times: Life-history strategy and environmental condition affect preferences for dominant and prestigious leaders

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Zhu ◽  
Binbin Chen ◽  
Lei Chang
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Leadership Qualities ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Strategy Study ◽  
Leadership Preferences

Dominance and prestige, as two distinct status-attaining qualities, are present in modern-day leaders at various levels of social hierarchies to various degrees. From an evolutionary perspective, we speculate that such leadership qualities are implicitly linked to the leadership preferences of followers in the environments where they are more effective or necessary. Moreover, individuals’ life-history strategy might moderate the effect of some contextual factors, such as environmental danger, on leadership preferences of dominant versus prestigious leaders. Three studies tested these hypotheses. In two implicit association test (IAT) experiments, we found that (1) participants implicitly associated danger with dominance, and safety with prestige (Study 1a, N = 32); (2) the relative strength of the implicit association between positive evaluation and prestige is positively correlated with participants’ slow life-history strategy (Study 1b, N = 67). In a third experiment (Study 2, N = 95), self-reported life-history strategy also moderated the effects of experimentally manipulated danger on leadership preferences. The association between dangerous environments and dominant leadership preference was stronger for participants with fast life-history strategies than those with slow life-history strategies.

Physiological Characterization of Hatchery-Origin Juvenile Steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss Adopting Divergent Life-History Strategies

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle C. Hanson ◽  
William L. Gale ◽  
William G. Simpson ◽  
Benjamen M. Kennedy ◽  
Kenneth G. Ostrand
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Gonadosomatic Index ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Migratory Fish ◽  
Physiological Characterization ◽  
Subunit Expression ◽  
Mature Fish

Abstract Smoltification by juvenile Pacific salmonids has been described as a developmental conflict whereby individuals face several life-history decisions. Smoltification occurs as a result of interactions between organismal condition and environmental cues, although some fish may forgo ocean migration and remain in freshwater streams for some time (residualize). We compared the physiological profiles of steelhead that were actively migrating to the ocean (migratory fish) and those that remained in fresh water (residuals) for at least a period of between 2 wk and 3 mo after release from a hatchery facility. In addition, we investigated the physiological characterization of residuals that further differentiated into precocial freshwater residents or parr that will either precocially mature in fresh water or migrate to the ocean in the future. Residuals had higher condition factors and gonadosomatic index than migratory fish and were characterized as less prepared for saltwater due to low levels of gill Na+,K+-ATPase activity and Na+,K+-ATPase α1b-subunit expression. Residuals tended to be males with the highest condition factors. Sex-specific differences are probably reflective of male fish adopting an alternative life-history strategy foregoing outmigration as a result of condition at the time of release. Collection of residuals throughout the fall suggested that residual hatchery fish further diversify into precocially mature fish that will presumably attempt to spawn without ever migrating to the ocean or into parr that will precocially mature or migrate in a future year.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document