Journal ArticleDOI
Trait‐based tests of coexistence mechanisms
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TLDR
It is argued that predicting future changes in biodiversity will require linking functional traits with recognised coexistence mechanisms involving spatial or temporal environmental heterogeneity, resource partitioning and natural enemies, and some mechanisms will be stronger and more widespread than others.Abstract:
Recent functional trait studies have shown that trait differences may favour certain species (environmental filtering) while simultaneously preventing competitive exclusion (niche partitioning). However, phenomenological trait-dispersion analyses do not identify the mechanisms that generate niche partitioning, preventing trait-based prediction of future changes in biodiversity. We argue that such predictions require linking functional traits with recognised coexistence mechanisms involving spatial or temporal environmental heterogeneity, resource partitioning and natural enemies. We first demonstrate the limitations of phenomenological approaches using simulations, and then (1) propose trait-based tests of coexistence, (2) generate hypotheses about which plant functional traits are likely to interact with particular mechanisms and (3) review the literature for evidence for these hypotheses. Theory and data suggest that all four classes of coexistence mechanisms could act on functional trait variation, but some mechanisms will be stronger and more widespread than others. The highest priority for future research is studies of interactions between environmental heterogeneity and trait variation that measure environmental variables at within-community scales and quantify species' responses to the environment in the absence of competition. Evidence that similar trait-based coexistence mechanisms operate in many ecosystems would simplify biodiversity forecasting and represent a rare victory for generality over contingency in community ecology.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Community assembly, coexistence and the environmental filtering metaphor
Nathan J. B. Kraft,Peter B. Adler,Oscar Godoy,Emily C. James,Steve Fuller,Jonathan M. Levine +5 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that the evidence used in many studies to assess environmental filtering is insufficient to distinguish filtering from the outcome of biotic interactions, and a simple framework for considering the role of the environment in shaping community membership is presented.
Journal ArticleDOI
Plant functional traits and the multidimensional nature of species coexistence
TL;DR: These complex relationships between phenotypic differences and the dynamics of competing species argue against the simple use of single functional traits to infer community assembly processes but lay the groundwork for a theoretically justified trait-based community ecology.
Journal ArticleDOI
A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities
Andrew Siefert,Cyrille Violle,Loïc Chalmandrier,Loïc Chalmandrier,Cécile H. Albert,Adrien Taudière,Alex Fajardo,Lonnie W. Aarssen,Christopher Baraloto,Marcos Bergmann Carlucci,Marcos Bergmann Carlucci,Marcos Bergmann Carlucci,Marcus Vinicius Cianciaruso,Vinícius de L. Dantas,Francesco de Bello,Francesco de Bello,Leandro da Silva Duarte,Carlos Fonseca,Grégoire T. Freschet,Grégoire T. Freschet,Stéphanie Gaucherand,Nicolas Gross,Nicolas Gross,Kouki Hikosaka,Benjamin G. Jackson,Vincent Jung,Chiho Kamiyama,Masatoshi Katabuchi,Steven W. Kembel,Emilie Kichenin,Nathan J. B. Kraft,Anna Lagerström,Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet,Yuanzhi Li,Norman W. H. Mason,Julie Messier,Tohru Nakashizuka,Jacob McC. Overton,Duane A. Peltzer,Ignacio Manuel Pérez-Ramos,Valério D. Pillar,Honor C. Prentice,Sarah J. Richardson,Takehiro Sasaki,Brandon S. Schamp,Christian Schöb,Bill Shipley,Maja K. Sundqvist,Maja K. Sundqvist,Martin T. Sykes,Marie Vandewalle,David A. Wardle +51 more
TL;DR: This paper conducted a meta-analysis of the relative extent of ITV within and among plant communities worldwide, using a data set encompassing 629 communities (plots) and 36 functional traits.
Journal ArticleDOI
Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition
Georges Kunstler,Georges Kunstler,Daniel S. Falster,David A. Coomes,Francis K. C. Hui,Robert M. Kooyman,Robert M. Kooyman,Daniel C. Laughlin,Lourens Poorter,Mark C. Vanderwel,Ghislain Vieilledent,S. Joseph Wright,Masahiro Aiba,Christopher Baraloto,Christopher Baraloto,John P. Caspersen,J. Hans C. Cornelissen,Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury,Marc Hanewinkel,Bruno Hérault,Jens Kattge,Hiroko Kurokawa,Yusuke Onoda,Josep Peñuelas,Hendrik Poorter,María Uriarte,Sarah J. Richardson,Paloma Ruiz-Benito,Paloma Ruiz-Benito,I-Fang Sun,Göran Ståhl,Nathan G. Swenson,Jill Thompson,Bertil Westerlund,Christian Wirth,Miguel A. Zavala,Hongcheng Zeng,Jess K. Zimmerman,Niklaus E. Zimmermann,Mark Westoby +39 more
TL;DR: Traits generate trade-offs between performance with competition versus performance without competition, a fundamental ingredient in the classical hypothesis that the coexistence of plant species is enabled via differentiation in their successional strategies.
Journal ArticleDOI
Novel competitors shape species/' responses to climate change
TL;DR: Alpine plants were transplanted to warmer climates to simulate a migration failure, their performance was strongly reduced by novel competitors that could migrate upwards from lower elevation; these effects generally exceeded the impact of warming on competition with current competitors.
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Journal ArticleDOI
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Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory
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The worldwide leaf economics spectrum
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