101
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Michalet R, Pugnaire FI. Facilitation in communities: underlying mechanisms, community and ecosystem implications. Funct Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Francisco I. Pugnaire
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Almería Spain
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102
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Foundation Species Loss and Biodiversity of the Herbaceous Layer in New England Forests. FORESTS 2015. [DOI: 10.3390/f7010009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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103
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Rodríguez‐Echeverría S, Lozano YM, Bardgett RD. Influence of soil microbiota in nurse plant systems. Funct Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Susana Rodríguez‐Echeverría
- CFE‐Centre for Functional Ecology Department of Life Sciences University of Coimbra Calçada Martim de Freitas 3000‐456 Coimbra Portugal
| | - Yudi M. Lozano
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Carretera de Sacramento s/n E‐04120 La Cañada de San Urbano Almería Spain
| | - Richard D. Bardgett
- Faculty of Life Sciences The University of Manchester Michael Smith Building Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PT UK
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104
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Malanson GP. Diversity differs among three variations of the stress gradients hypothesis in two representations of niche space. J Theor Biol 2015; 384:121-30. [PMID: 26327277 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2015] [Revised: 07/28/2015] [Accepted: 08/17/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
How does the stress-gradient hypothesis affect coexistence in relation to established theory? For two orthogonal stress gradients, a spatially explicit agent based simulation is used to project diversity for simple competitive and facilitative interactions and for three variations of the stress-gradient hypothesis: intraspecific and interspecific competitive and facilitative interactions are a function of the abiotic environment; interactions are relative to species-specific fitness along gradients; or interaction is fixed by species regardless of the abiotic environment. Simulations are run with two orthogonal environmental gradients for two representations of niche. Facilitation can increase diversity by maintaining larger source populations and thus higher establishment rates and sink populations. With species hierarchically related in niche space, the simulations show that positive interactions and changing interactions along a stress gradient maintain greater diversity through intraspecific competition that is effective where dominance would occur and through facilitation where stress is high. A changing environment that favors some species and harms others decreases diversity in the hierarchical cases, where poor competitors most likely subject to interspecific interaction respond most strongly. Diversity outcomes differ among the three stress gradient variations because the intensity of interactions differs across the environmental gradients, not because of change in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- George P Malanson
- Department of Geographical & Sustainability Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
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105
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Arroyo AI, Pueyo Y, Saiz H, Alados CL. Plant-plant interactions as a mechanism structuring plant diversity in a Mediterranean semi-arid ecosystem. Ecol Evol 2015; 5:5305-5317. [PMID: 30151133 PMCID: PMC6102514 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2015] [Revised: 09/02/2015] [Accepted: 09/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Plant-plant interactions are among the fundamental processes that shape structure and functioning of arid and semi-arid plant communities. Despite the large amount of studies that have assessed the relationship between plant-plant interactions (i.e., facilitation and competition) and diversity, often researchers forget a third kind of interaction, known as allelopathy. We examined the effect of plant-plant interactions of three dominant species: the perennial grass Lygeum spartum, the allelopathic dwarf shrub Artemisia herba-alba, and the nurse shrub Salsola vermiculata, on plant diversity and species composition in a semi-arid ecosystem in NE Spain. Specifically, we quantified the interaction outcome (IO) based on species co-occurrence, we analyzed diversity by calculation of the individual species-area relationship (ISAR), and compositional changes by calculation of the Chao-Jaccard similarity index. We found that S. vermiculata had more positive IO values than L. spartum, and A. herba-alba had values between them. Lygeum spartum and A. herba-alba acted as diversity repellers, whereas S. vermiculata acted as a diversity accumulator. As aridity increased, A. herba-alba transitioned from diversity repeller to neutral and S. vermiculata transitioned from neutral to diversity accumulator, while L. spartum remained as diversity repeller. Artemisia herba-alba had more perennial grass species in its local neighborhood than expected by the null model, suggesting some tolerance of this group to its "chemical neighbor". Consequently, species that coexist with A. herba-alba were very similar among different A. herba-alba individuals. Our findings highlight the role of the nurse shrub S. vermiculata as ecosystem engineer, creating and maintaining patches of diversity, as well as the complex mechanism that an allelopathic plant may have on diversity and species assemblage. Further research is needed to determine the relative importance of allelopathy and competition in the overall interference of allelopathic plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio I Arroyo
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC) Av. Montañana 1005 P.O. Box 13.034 50080 Zaragoza Spain
| | - Yolanda Pueyo
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC) Av. Montañana 1005 P.O. Box 13.034 50080 Zaragoza Spain
| | - Hugo Saiz
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC) Av. Montañana 1005 P.O. Box 13.034 50080 Zaragoza Spain.,UMR 6553 Ecobio CNRS - University of Rennes 1 Av. du General Leclerc 35042 Rennes Cedex France
| | - Concepción L Alados
- Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC) Av. Montañana 1005 P.O. Box 13.034 50080 Zaragoza Spain
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106
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Kidé SO, Manté C, Dubroca L, Demarcq H, Mérigot B. Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Exploited Groundfish Species Assemblages Faced to Environmental and Fishing Forcings: Insights from the Mauritanian Exclusive Economic Zone. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0141566. [PMID: 26505198 PMCID: PMC4623501 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2015] [Accepted: 10/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Environmental changes and human activities can have strong impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This study investigates how, from a quantitative point of view, simultaneously both environmental and anthropogenic factors affect species composition and abundance of exploited groundfish assemblages (i.e. target and non-target species) at large spatio-temporal scales. We aim to investigate (1) the spatial and annual stability of groundfish assemblages, (2) relationships between these assemblages and structuring factors in order to better explain the dynamic of the assemblages’ structure. The Mauritanian Exclusive Economic Zone (MEEZ) is of particular interest as it embeds a productive ecosystem due to upwelling, producing abundant and diverse resources which constitute an attractive socio-economic development. We applied the multi-variate and multi-table STATICO method on a data set consisting of 854 hauls collected during 14-years (1997–2010) from scientific trawl surveys (species abundance), logbooks of industrial fishery (fishing effort), sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a concentration as environmental variables. Our results showed that abiotic factors drove four main persistent fish assemblages. Overall, chlorophyll a concentration and sea surface temperature mainly influenced the structure of assemblages of coastal soft bottoms and those of the offshore near rocky bottoms where upwellings held. While highest levels of fishing effort were located in the northern permanent upwelling zone, effects of this variable on species composition and abundances of assemblages were relatively low, even if not negligible in some years and areas. The temporal trajectories between environmental and fishing conditions and assemblages did not match for all the entire time series analyzed in the MEEZ, but interestingly for some specific years and areas. The quantitative approach used in this work may provide to stakeholders, scientists and fishers a useful assessment for the spatio-temporal dynamics of exploited assemblages under stable or changing conditions in fishing and environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saïkou Oumar Kidé
- Institut Mauritanien de Recherches Océanographiques et des Pêches, Laboratoire de Biologie et Ecologie des Organismes Aquatiques, Nouadhibou, Mauritanie
- Aix-Marseille Université, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Marseille, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Claude Manté
- Aix-Marseille Université, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography, Marseille, France
| | - Laurent Dubroca
- IFREMER, Avenue du Général de Gaulle, 14520, Port-en-Bessin-Huppain, France
| | - Hervé Demarcq
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR 9190 MARBEC, Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne, Sète, France
| | - Bastien Mérigot
- Université de Montpellier, UMR 9190 MARBEC, Centre de Recherche Halieutique Méditerranéenne, Sète, France
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107
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Valladares F, Bastias CC, Godoy O, Granda E, Escudero A. Species coexistence in a changing world. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2015; 6:866. [PMID: 26528323 PMCID: PMC4604266 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2015.00866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2015] [Accepted: 09/30/2015] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
The consequences of global change for the maintenance of species diversity will depend on the sum of each species responses to the environment and on the interactions among them. A wide ecological literature supports that these species-specific responses can arise from factors related to life strategies, evolutionary history and intraspecific variation, and also from environmental variation in space and time. In the light of recent advances from coexistence theory combined with mechanistic explanations of diversity maintenance, we discuss how global change drivers can influence species coexistence. We revise the importance of both competition and facilitation for understanding coexistence in different ecosystems, address the influence of phylogenetic relatedness, functional traits, phenotypic plasticity and intraspecific variability, and discuss lessons learnt from invasion ecology. While most previous studies have focused their efforts on disentangling the mechanisms that maintain the biological diversity in species-rich ecosystems such as tropical forests, grasslands and coral reefs, we argue that much can be learnt from pauci-specific communities where functional variability within each species, together with demographic and stochastic processes becomes key to understand species interactions and eventually community responses to global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Valladares
- Departamento de Biogeografía y Cambio Global, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Ciencias, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
| | - Cristina C. Bastias
- Departamento de Biogeografía y Cambio Global, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Oscar Godoy
- Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Seville, Spain
| | - Elena Granda
- Laboratoire Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, Université Paris Sud/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
| | - Adrián Escudero
- Departamento de Ciencias, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
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108
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Kopp CW, Cleland EE. A Range-Expanding Shrub Species Alters Plant Phenological Response to Experimental Warming. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0139029. [PMID: 26402617 PMCID: PMC4581864 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2015] [Accepted: 09/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Shifts in plant species phenology (the timing of life-history events such as flowering) have been observed worldwide in concert with rising global temperatures. While most species display earlier phenology with warming, there is large variation among, and even within, species in phenological sensitivity to rising temperatures. Other indirect effects of climate change, such as shifting species composition and altered species interactions, may also be contributing to shifting plant phenology. Here, we describe how experimental warming and the presence of a range-expanding species, sagebrush (Artemisia rothrockii), interact to influence the flowering phenology (day of first and peak flowering) and production (number of flowers) of an alpine cushion plant, Trifolium andersonii, in California's White Mountains. Both first flowering and peak flowering were strongly accelerated by warming, but not when sagebrush was present. Warming significantly increased flower production of T. andersonii, but less so in the presence of sagebrush. A shading treatment delayed phenology and lowered flower production, suggesting that shading may be the mechanism by which sagebrush presence delayed flowering of the understory species. This study demonstrates that species interactions can modify phenological responses to climate change, and suggests that indirect effects of rising temperatures arising from shifting species ranges and altered species interactions may even exceed the direct effects of rising temperatures on phenology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher W. Kopp
- The Biodiversity Research Centre, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - Elsa E. Cleland
- Ecology, Behavior & Evolution Section, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, San Diego, United States of America
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109
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Cavieres LA, Hernández‐Fuentes C, Sierra‐Almeida A, Kikvidze Z. Facilitation among plants as an insurance policy for diversity in Alpine communities. Funct Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lohengrin A. Cavieres
- ECOBIOSIS Departamento de Botánica Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas Universidad de Concepción 4070043 Concepción Chile
- Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad Casilla 653 Santiago Chile
| | - Carolina Hernández‐Fuentes
- ECOBIOSIS Departamento de Botánica Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas Universidad de Concepción 4070043 Concepción Chile
- Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad Casilla 653 Santiago Chile
| | - Angela Sierra‐Almeida
- ECOBIOSIS Departamento de Botánica Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas Universidad de Concepción 4070043 Concepción Chile
- Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad Casilla 653 Santiago Chile
| | - Zaal Kikvidze
- 4D Research Institute Ilia State University Room 310 Building E 5 Cholokashvili Ave. Tbilisi 0162 Georgia
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110
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Xu C, Holmgren M, Van Nes EH, Maestre FT, Soliveres S, Berdugo M, Kéfi S, Marquet PA, Abades S, Scheffer M. Can we infer plant facilitation from remote sensing? a test across global drylands. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2015; 25:1456-1462. [PMID: 26552256 PMCID: PMC4910861 DOI: 10.1890/14-2358.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Facilitation is a major force shaping the structure and diversity of plant communities in terrestrial ecosystems. Detecting positive plant-plant interactions relies on the combination of field experimentation and the demonstration of spatial association between neighboring plants. This has often restricted the study of facilitation to particular sites, limiting the development of systematic assessments of facilitation over regional and global scales. Here we explore whether the frequency of plant spatial associations detected from high-resolution remotely sensed images can be used to infer plant facilitation at the community level in drylands around the globe. We correlated the information from remotely sensed images freely available through Google Earth with detailed field assessments, and used a simple individual-based model to generate patch-size distributions using different assumptions about the type and strength of plant-plant interactions. Most of the patterns found from the remotely sensed images were more right skewed than the patterns from the null model simulating a random distribution. This suggests that the plants in the studied drylands show stronger spatial clustering than expected by chance. We found that positive plant co-occurrence, as measured in the field, was significantly related to the skewness of vegetation patch-size distribution measured using Google Earth images. Our findings suggest that the relative frequency of facilitation may be inferred from spatial pattern signals measured from remotely sensed images, since facilitation often determines positive co-occurrence among neighboring plants. They pave the road for a systematic global assessment of the role of facilitation in terrestrial ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chi Xu
- School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, P.R. China
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, NL-6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Milena Holmgren
- Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, NL-6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Egbert H. Van Nes
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, NL-6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Fernando T. Maestre
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, c/ Tulipán s/n., E-28933 Móstoles, Spain
| | - Santiago Soliveres
- Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Miguel Berdugo
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, c/ Tulipán s/n., E-28933 Móstoles, Spain
| | - Sonia Kéfi
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, c/ Tulipán s/n., E-28933 Móstoles, Spain
| | - Pablo A. Marquet
- Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile
- Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
- Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global (LINCGlobal) Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile
- The Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA
- Centro Cambio Global UC (PUC-Global) Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago, Chile
| | - Sebastian Abades
- Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile
- Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
- Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global (LINCGlobal) Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, Chile
| | - Marten Scheffer
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, NL-6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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111
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Bulleri F, Bruno JF, Silliman BR, Stachowicz JJ. Facilitation and the niche: implications for coexistence, range shifts and ecosystem functioning. Funct Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 143] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fabio Bulleri
- Dipartimento di Biologia Università di Pisa Via Derna 1 Pisa 56126 Italy
| | - John F. Bruno
- Department of Biology The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill North Carolina 27517 USA
| | - Brian R. Silliman
- Division of Marine Science and Conservation Nicholas School of the Environment Duke University Beaufort North Carolina 28516 USA
| | - John J. Stachowicz
- Department of Evolution and Ecology University of California Davis CaliforniaUSA
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112
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Ballantyne M, Pickering CM. Recreational trails as a source of negative impacts on the persistence of keystone species and facilitation. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2015; 159:48-57. [PMID: 26042631 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.05.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2014] [Revised: 05/18/2015] [Accepted: 05/20/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Hiking trails, which are among the most common forms of infrastructure created for nature-based tourism, can alter key ecological processes. Trails can damage plants that facilitate the establishment and growth of other species leading to changes in community and functional composition. This can be a particular concern in harsh alpine ecosystems where plant communities are often dominated by one or two keystone species that provide shelter to a suite of beneficiary species. We analysed how a hiking trail affects interspecific facilitation by a dominant trampling-sensitive nurse shrub in the highest National Park in Australia. First we assessed the effects of the trail on the abundance, size and density of the nurse shrub at different distances from the trail. We then compared species richness and composition between areas in, and out, of the nurse shrub's canopy at different distances from the trail. To better understand why some species may benefit from facilitation and any effects of the trail on the quality of facilitation we compared functional composition between quadrats using community trait weighted means calculated by combining plant composition with species functional traits (canopy height, leaf area, % dry weight of leaves and specific leaf area). The abundance, size and density of nurse shrubs was lower on the trail edges than further away, particularly on the leeward edge, where there was more bare ground and less shrub cover. There were differences in species richness, cover, composition and functional composition in and outside the nurse shrub canopy. The shrubs appeared to facilitate species with more competitive, but less stress tolerant traits (e.g. taller plants with leaves that were larger, had high specific leaf area and low dry matter content). However, despite reductions in nurse shrubs near the trail, where they do exist, they appear to provide the same 'quality' of facilitation as nurse shrubs further away. However, longer-term effects may be occurring as the loss of nurse shrubs alters the wind profile of the ridgeline and therefore succession. The use of a steel mesh walkway along the trail may facilitate the regeneration of nurse shrubs and other plants that require protection from wind. Our results highlight the importance of diversifying recreation ecology research to assess how trails affect important ecological processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Ballantyne
- Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, 4222, Australia.
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113
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Michalet R, Schöb C, Xiao S, Zhao L, Chen T, An L, Callaway RM. Beneficiary feedback effects on alpine cushion benefactors become more negative with increasing cover of graminoids and in dry conditions. Funct Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Christian Schöb
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zürich Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH‐8057 Zürich Switzerland
| | - Sa Xiao
- School of Life Sciences Lanzhou University Lanzhou China
| | - Liang Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Three Gorges Reservoir Region′s Eco‐Environment Ministry of Education Chongqing University Chongqing 400045 China
| | - Tuo Chen
- Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Lanzhou China
| | - Li‐zhe An
- School of Life Sciences Lanzhou University Lanzhou China
| | - Ragan M. Callaway
- Division of Biological Sciences and Institute on Ecosystems University of Montana Missoula MT USA
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114
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Kikvidze Z, Brooker RW, Butterfield BJ, Callaway RM, Cavieres LA, Cook BJ, Lortie CJ, Michalet R, Pugnaire FI, Xiao S, Anthelme F, Björk RG, Cranston BH, Gavilán RG, Kanka R, Lingua E, Maalouf JP, Noroozi J, Parajuli R, Phoenix GK, Reid A, Ridenour WM, Rixen C, Schöb C. The effects of foundation species on community assembly: a global study on alpine cushion plant communities. Ecology 2015; 96:2064-9. [DOI: 10.1890/14-2443.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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115
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García MC, Bader MY, Cavieres LA. Facilitation consequences for reproduction of the benefactor cushion plantLaretia acaulisalong an elevational gradient: costs or benefits? OIKOS 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.02592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mary Carolina García
- Depto de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas; Univ. de Concepción; Barrio Universitario s/n Casilla 160-C, Concepción Chile
- Inst. de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB); Las Palmeras 3425 Ñuñoa, Casilla 653, Santiago Chile
| | - Maaike Y. Bader
- Ecological Plant Geography, Faculty of Geography, Univ. of Marburg; Deutschhausstrasse 10 DE-35032 Marburg Germany
| | - Lohengrin A. Cavieres
- Depto de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas; Univ. de Concepción; Barrio Universitario s/n Casilla 160-C, Concepción Chile
- Inst. de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB); Las Palmeras 3425 Ñuñoa, Casilla 653, Santiago Chile
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116
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Bennett S, Wernberg T, de Bettignies T, Kendrick GA, Anderson RJ, Bolton JJ, Rodgers KL, Shears NT, Leclerc JC, Lévêque L, Davoult D, Christie HC. Canopy interactions and physical stress gradients in subtidal communities. Ecol Lett 2015; 18:677-86. [PMID: 25975532 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2014] [Revised: 12/15/2014] [Accepted: 04/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Species interactions are integral drivers of community structure and can change from competitive to facilitative with increasing environmental stress. In subtidal marine ecosystems, however, interactions along physical stress gradients have seldom been tested. We observed seaweed canopy interactions across depth and latitudinal gradients to test whether light and temperature stress structured interaction patterns. We also quantified interspecific and intraspecific interactions among nine subtidal canopy seaweed species across three continents to examine the general nature of interactions in subtidal systems under low consumer pressure. We reveal that positive and neutral interactions are widespread throughout global seaweed communities and the nature of interactions can change from competitive to facilitative with increasing light stress in shallow marine systems. These findings provide support for the stress gradient hypothesis within subtidal seaweed communities and highlight the importance of canopy interactions for the maintenance of subtidal marine habitats experiencing environmental stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Bennett
- School of Plant Biology & UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, 6009, WA, Australia
| | - Thomas Wernberg
- School of Plant Biology & UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, 6009, WA, Australia
| | - Thibaut de Bettignies
- School of Plant Biology & UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, 6009, WA, Australia
| | - Gary A Kendrick
- School of Plant Biology & UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 39 Fairway, Crawley, 6009, WA, Australia
| | - Robert J Anderson
- Seaweed Research Unit, Department of Agriculture, forestry and Fisheries, Pvt Bag X2, Roggebaai, 8012, South Africa
- Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
| | - John J Bolton
- Department of Biological Sciences and Marine Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
| | - Kirsten L Rodgers
- Leigh Marine Laboratory, Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, PO Box 349, Warkworth, 0941, New Zealand
| | - Nick T Shears
- Leigh Marine Laboratory, Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, PO Box 349, Warkworth, 0941, New Zealand
| | - Jean-Charles Leclerc
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier, Roscoff, 29680, France
- CNRS, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier, UMR 7144, Roscoff, 29680, France
| | - Laurent Lévêque
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier, Roscoff, 29680, France
- CNRS, FR 2424, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier, Roscoff, 29680, France
| | - Dominique Davoult
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier, Roscoff, 29680, France
- CNRS, Station Biologique, Place Georges Teissier, UMR 7144, Roscoff, 29680, France
| | - Hartvig C Christie
- Section for Marine Biology, Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway
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117
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Brooker RW, Karley AJ, Newton AC, Pakeman RJ, Schöb C. Facilitation and sustainable agriculture: a mechanistic approach to reconciling crop production and conservation. Funct Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rob W. Brooker
- The James Hutton Institute Craigiebuckler Aberdeen AB15 8QH UK
| | | | | | | | - Christian Schöb
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zürich Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH‐8057 Zürich Switzerland
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118
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Klanderud K, Vandvik V, Goldberg D. The Importance of Biotic vs. Abiotic Drivers of Local Plant Community Composition Along Regional Bioclimatic Gradients. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0130205. [PMID: 26091266 PMCID: PMC4474800 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2015] [Accepted: 05/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We assessed if the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors for plant community composition differs along environmental gradients and between functional groups, and asked which implications this may have in a warmer and wetter future. The study location is a unique grid of sites spanning regional-scale temperature and precipitation gradients in boreal and alpine grasslands in southern Norway. Within each site we sampled vegetation and associated biotic and abiotic factors, and combined broad- and fine-scale ordination analyses to assess the relative explanatory power of these factors for species composition. Although the community responses to biotic and abiotic factors did not consistently change as predicted along the bioclimatic gradients, abiotic variables tended to explain a larger proportion of the variation in species composition towards colder sites, whereas biotic variables explained more towards warmer sites, supporting the stress gradient hypothesis. Significant interactions with precipitation suggest that biotic variables explained more towards wetter climates in the sub alpine and boreal sites, but more towards drier climates in the colder alpine. Thus, we predict that biotic interactions may become more important in alpine and boreal grasslands in a warmer future, although more winter precipitation may counteract this trend in oceanic alpine climates. Our results show that both local and regional scales analyses are needed to disentangle the local vegetation-environment relationships and their regional-scale drivers, and biotic interactions and precipitation must be included when predicting future species assemblages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kari Klanderud
- Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
- Biology Department, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Vigdis Vandvik
- Biology Department, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Deborah Goldberg
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America
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119
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Bråthen KA, Lortie C. A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments. Funct Ecol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kari Anne Bråthen
- Department of Arctic and Marin Biology UiT‐ Arctic University of Norway N‐9037 Tromsø Norway
| | - Christopher Lortie
- Department of Biology York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto ON M3J 1P3 Canada
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120
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Granger V, Bez N, Fromentin J, Meynard C, Jadaud A, Mérigot B. Mapping diversity indices: not a trivial issue. Methods Ecol Evol 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.12357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Victoria Granger
- Université Montpellier UMR 9190 MARBEC “Marine biodiversity, exploitation & conservation” (CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, UM) Sète France
| | - Nicolas Bez
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement UMR 9190 MARBEC “Marine biodiversity, exploitation & conservation” (CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, UM) Sète France
| | - Jean‐Marc Fromentin
- Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer UMR 9190 MARBEC “Marine biodiversity, exploitation & conservation” (CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, UM) Sète France
| | - Christine Meynard
- Virginia Institute of Marine Science College of William and Mary P.O. Box 1346 Gloucester Point VA 23062 USA
| | - Angélique Jadaud
- Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer UMR 9190 MARBEC “Marine biodiversity, exploitation & conservation” (CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, UM) Sète France
| | - Bastien Mérigot
- Université Montpellier UMR 9190 MARBEC “Marine biodiversity, exploitation & conservation” (CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, UM) Sète France
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121
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Cranston BH, Monks A, Whigham PA, Dickinson KJM. Variation and response to experimental warming in a New Zealand cushion plant species. AUSTRAL ECOL 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.12231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Adrian Monks
- Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research; Dunedin New Zealand
| | - Peter A. Whigham
- Department of Information Science; University of Otago; Dunedin New Zealand
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Castanho CDT, Lortie CJ, Zaitchik B, Prado PI. A meta-analysis of plant facilitation in coastal dune systems: responses, regions, and research gaps. PeerJ 2015; 3:e768. [PMID: 25699214 PMCID: PMC4330909 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2014] [Accepted: 01/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Empirical studies in salt marshes, arid, and alpine systems support the hypothesis that facilitation between plants is an important ecological process in severe or 'stressful' environments. Coastal dunes are both abiotically stressful and frequently disturbed systems. Facilitation has been documented, but the evidence to date has not been synthesized. We did a systematic review with meta-analysis to highlight general research gaps in the study of plant interactions in coastal dunes and examine if regional and local factors influence the magnitude of facilitation in these systems. The 32 studies included in the systematic review were done in coastal dunes located in 13 countries around the world but the majority was in the temperate zone (63%). Most of the studies adopt only an observational approach to make inferences about facilitative interactions, whereas only 28% of the studies used both observational and experimental approaches. Among the factors we tested, only geographic region mediates the occurrence of facilitation more broadly in coastal dune systems. The presence of a neighbor positively influenced growth and survival in the tropics, whereas in temperate and subartic regions the effect was neutral for both response variables. We found no evidence that climatic and local factors, such as life-form and life stage of interacting plants, affect the magnitude of facilitation in coastal dunes. Overall, conclusions about plant facilitation in coastal dunes depend on the response variable measured and, more broadly, on the geographic region examined. However, the high variability and the limited number of studies, especially in tropical region, indicate we need to be cautious in the generalization of the conclusions. Anyway, coastal dunes provide an important means to explore topical issues in facilitation research including context dependency, local versus regional drivers of community structure, and the importance of gradients in shaping the outcome of net interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Benjamin Zaitchik
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Paulo Inácio Prado
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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123
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Pistón N, Armas C, Schöb C, Macek P, Pugnaire FI. Phylogenetic distance among beneficiary species in a cushion plant species explains interaction outcome. OIKOS 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.01979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nuria Pistón
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Carretera de Sacramento s/n ES-04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería Spain
| | - Cristina Armas
- Depto de Biología; Univ. de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena and Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad; Casilla 653 Santiago Chile
| | - Christian Schöb
- Inst. of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, Univ. of Zürich; Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH-8057 Zürich Switzerland
| | - Petr Macek
- Faculty of Science, Univ. of South Bohemia; Branisovska 31 CZ-370 05 Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic
| | - Francisco I. Pugnaire
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Carretera de Sacramento s/n ES-04120 La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería Spain
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124
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Soliveres S, Smit C, Maestre FT. Moving forward on facilitation research: response to changing environments and effects on the diversity, functioning and evolution of plant communities. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2015; 90:297-313. [PMID: 24774563 PMCID: PMC4407973 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 115] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2013] [Revised: 04/02/2014] [Accepted: 04/04/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Once seen as anomalous, facilitative interactions among plants and their importance for community structure and functioning are now widely recognized. The growing body of modelling, descriptive and experimental studies on facilitation covers a wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic systems throughout the globe. However, the lack of a general body of theory linking facilitation among different types of organisms and biomes and their responses to environmental changes prevents further advances in our knowledge regarding the evolutionary and ecological implications of facilitation in plant communities. Moreover, insights gathered from alternative lines of inquiry may substantially improve our understanding of facilitation, but these have been largely neglected thus far. Despite over 15 years of research and debate on this topic, there is no consensus on the degree to which plant-plant interactions change predictably along environmental gradients (i.e. the stress-gradient hypothesis), and this hinders our ability to predict how plant-plant interactions may affect the response of plant communities to ongoing global environmental change. The existing controversies regarding the response of plant-plant interactions across environmental gradients can be reconciled when clearly considering and determining the species-specificity of the response, the functional or individual stress type, and the scale of interest (pairwise interactions or community-level response). Here, we introduce a theoretical framework to do this, supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence. We also discuss current gaps in our knowledge regarding how plant-plant interactions change along environmental gradients. These include the existence of thresholds in the amount of species-specific stress that a benefactor can alleviate, the linearity or non-linearity of the response of pairwise interactions across distance from the ecological optimum of the beneficiary, and the need to explore further how frequent interactions among multiple species are and how they change across different environments. We review the latest advances in these topics and provide new approaches to fill current gaps in our knowledge. We also apply our theoretical framework to advance our knowledge on the evolutionary aspects of plant facilitation, and the relative importance of facilitation, in comparison with other ecological processes, for maintaining ecosystem structure, functioning and dynamics. We build links between these topics and related fields, such as ecological restoration, woody encroachment, invasion ecology, ecological modelling and biodiversity-ecosystem-functioning relationships. By identifying commonalities and insights from alternative lines of research, we further advance our understanding of facilitation and provide testable hypotheses regarding the role of (positive) biotic interactions in the maintenance of biodiversity and the response of ecological communities to ongoing environmental changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago Soliveres
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
| | - Christian Smit
- Community and Conservation Ecology group, Centre for Evolutionary and Ecological Studies, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, Nijenborg 7, 9700 CC Groningen, the Netherland
| | - Fernando T. Maestre
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
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125
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Couteron P, Anthelme F, Clerc M, Escaff D, Fernandez-Oto C, Tlidi M. Plant clonal morphologies and spatial patterns as self-organized responses to resource-limited environments. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. SERIES A, MATHEMATICAL, PHYSICAL, AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES 2014; 372:rsta.2014.0102. [PMID: 25246689 DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2014.0102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
We propose here to interpret and model peculiar plant morphologies (cushions and tussocks) observed in the Andean Altiplano as localized structures. Such structures resulting in a patchy, aperiodic aspect of the vegetation cover are hypothesized to self-organize thanks to the interplay between facilitation and competition processes occurring at the scale of basic plant components biologically referred to as 'ramets'. (Ramets are often of clonal origin.) To verify this interpretation, we applied a simple, fairly generic model (one integro-differential equation) emphasizing via Gaussian kernels non-local facilitative and competitive feedbacks of the vegetation biomass density on its own dynamics. We show that under realistic assumptions and parameter values relating to ramet scale, the model can reproduce some macroscopic features of the observed systems of patches and predict values for the inter-patch distance that match the distances encountered in the reference area (Sajama National Park in Bolivia). Prediction of the model can be confronted in the future with data on vegetation patterns along environmental gradients so as to anticipate the possible effect of global change on those vegetation systems experiencing constraining environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Couteron
- IRD, UMR AMAP, c/o Cirad, 34000 Montpellier, France
| | - F Anthelme
- IRD, UMR AMAP, c/o Cirad, 34000 Montpellier, France Universidad Major de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
| | - M Clerc
- Departamento de Física, FCFM, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Blanco Encalada 2008, Santiago, Chile
| | - D Escaff
- Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Monseñor Alvaro del Portillo 12.455, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
| | - C Fernandez-Oto
- Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), CP 231, Campus Plaine, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - M Tlidi
- Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), CP 231, Campus Plaine, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
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126
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Pescador DS, Chacón-Labella J, de la Cruz M, Escudero A. Maintaining distances with the engineer: patterns of coexistence in plant communities beyond the patch-bare dichotomy. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2014; 204:140-148. [PMID: 24954264 DOI: 10.1111/nph.12899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2014] [Accepted: 05/17/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Two-phase plant communities with an engineer conforming conspicuous patches and affecting the performance and patterns of coexisting species are the norm under stressful conditions. To unveil the mechanisms governing coexistence in these communities at multiple spatial scales, we have developed a new point-raster approach of spatial pattern analysis, which was applied to a Mediterranean high mountain grassland to show how Festuca curvifolia patches affect the local distribution of coexisting species. We recorded 22 111 individuals of 17 plant perennial species. Most coexisting species were negatively associated with F. curvifolia clumps. Nevertheless, bivariate nearest-neighbor analyses revealed that the majority of coexisting species were confined at relatively short distances from F. curvifolia borders (between 0-2 cm and up to 8 cm in some cases). Our study suggests the existence of a fine-scale effect of F. curvifolia for most species promoting coexistence through a mechanism we call 'facilitation in the halo'. Most coexisting species are displaced to an interphase area between patches, where two opposite forces reach equilibrium: attenuated severe conditions by proximity to the F. curvifolia canopy (nutrient-rich islands) and competitive exclusion mitigated by avoiding direct contact with F. curvifolia.
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Affiliation(s)
- David S Pescador
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, c/Tulipán s/n, E-28933, Móstoles, Spain
| | - Julia Chacón-Labella
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, c/Tulipán s/n, E-28933, Móstoles, Spain
| | - Marcelino de la Cruz
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, c/Tulipán s/n, E-28933, Móstoles, Spain
| | - Adrian Escudero
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, c/Tulipán s/n, E-28933, Móstoles, Spain
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127
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Schöb C, Callaway RM, Anthelme F, Brooker RW, Cavieres LA, Kikvidze Z, Lortie CJ, Michalet R, Pugnaire FI, Xiao S, Cranston BH, García MC, Hupp NR, Llambí LD, Lingua E, Reid AM, Zhao L, Butterfield BJ. The context dependence of beneficiary feedback effects on benefactors in plant facilitation. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2014; 204:386-96. [PMID: 24985245 DOI: 10.1111/nph.12908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2014] [Accepted: 05/20/2014] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Facilitative effects of some species on others are a major driver of biodiversity. These positive effects of a benefactor on its beneficiary can result in negative feedback effects of the beneficiary on the benefactor and reduced fitness of the benefactor. However, in contrast to the wealth of studies on facilitative effects in different environments, we know little about whether the feedback effects show predictable patterns of context dependence. We reanalyzed a global data set on alpine cushion plants, previously used to assess their positive effects on biodiversity and the nature of the beneficiary feedback effects, to specifically assess the context dependence of how small- and large-scale drivers alter the feedback effects of cushion-associated (beneficiary) species on their cushion benefactors using structural equation modelling. The effect of beneficiaries on cushions became negative when beneficiary diversity increased and facilitation was more intense. Local-scale biotic and climatic conditions mediated these community-scale processes, having indirect effects on the feedback effect. High-productivity sites demonstrated weaker negative feedback effects of beneficiaries on the benefactor. Our results indicate a limited impact of the beneficiary feedback effects on benefactor cushions, but strong context dependence. This context dependence may help to explain the ecological and evolutionary persistence of this widespread facilitative system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Schöb
- The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH, UK
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128
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Harris LW, Elliott TL, Davies TJ. Community restructuring can maintain diversity across a severity gradient in the absence of foundation species. Ecosphere 2014. [DOI: 10.1890/es14-00242.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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129
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Soliveres S, Maestre FT. Plant-plant interactions, environmental gradients and plant diversity: a global synthesis of community-level studies. PERSPECTIVES IN PLANT ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS 2014; 16:154-163. [PMID: 25914603 PMCID: PMC4407974 DOI: 10.1016/j.ppees.2014.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Previous syntheses on the effects of environmental conditions on the outcome of plant-plant interactions summarize results from pairwise studies. However, the upscaling to the community-level of such studies is problematic because of the existence of multiple species assemblages and species-specific responses to both the environmental conditions and the presence of neighbors. We conducted the first global synthesis of community-level studies from harsh environments, which included data from 71 alpine and 137 dryland communities. Here we: i) test how important are facilitative interactions as a driver of community structure, ii) evaluate whether the frequency of positive plant-plant interactions across differing environmental conditions and habitats is predictable, and iii) assess whether thresholds in the response of plant-plant interactions to environmental gradients exists between "moderate" and "extreme" stress levels. We also used those community-level studies performed across gradients of at least three points to evaluate how the average environmental conditions, the length of the gradient studied, and the number of points sampled across such gradient affect the form and strength of the facilitation-environment relationship. Over 25% of the species present were more spatially associated to nurse plants than expected by chance in both alpine and dryland areas, illustrating the high importance of positive plant-plant interactions for the maintenance of plant diversity. Facilitative interactions were more frequent, and more related to environmental conditions, in alpine than in dryland areas, perhaps because drylands are generally characterized by a larger variety of environmental stress factors and plant functional traits. The frequency of facilitative interactions in alpine communities peaked at 1000 mm of annual rainfall, and globally decreased with elevation. The frequency of positive interactions in dryland communities decreased globally with water scarcity or temperature annual range. Positive facilitation-drought stress relationships are more likely in shorter regional gradients, but these relationships are obscured in regions with a greater species turnover or with complex environmental gradients. By showing the different climatic drivers and behaviors of plant-plant interactions in dryland and alpine areas, our results will improve predictions regarding the effect of facilitation on the assembly of plant communities and their response to changes in environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago Soliveres
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán S/N, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
- Corresponding author. . Phone: 34-914888517, Fax: 34-916647490. FTM:
| | - Fernando T. Maestre
- Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Calle Tulipán S/N, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
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130
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Anthelme F, Cavieres LA, Dangles O. Facilitation among plants in alpine environments in the face of climate change. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2014; 5:387. [PMID: 25161660 PMCID: PMC4130109 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2014.00387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2014] [Accepted: 07/21/2014] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
While there is a large consensus that plant-plant interactions are a crucial component of the response of plant communities to the effects of climate change, available data remain scarce, particularly in alpine systems. This represents an important obstacle to making consistent predictions about the future of plant communities. Here, we review current knowledge on the effects of climate change on facilitation among alpine plant communities and propose directions for future research. In established alpine communities, while warming seemingly generates a net facilitation release, earlier snowmelt may increase facilitation. Some nurse plants are able to buffer microenvironmental changes in the long term and may ensure the persistence of other alpine plants through local migration events. For communities migrating to higher elevations, facilitation should play an important role in their reorganization because of the harsher environmental conditions. In particular, the absence of efficient nurse plants might slow down upward migration, possibly generating chains of extinction. Facilitation-climate change relationships are expected to shift along latitudinal gradients because (1) the magnitude of warming is predicted to vary along these gradients, and (2) alpine environments are significantly different at low vs. high latitudes. Data on these expected patterns are preliminary and thus need to be tested with further studies on facilitation among plants in alpine environments that have thus far not been considered. From a methodological standpoint, future studies will benefit from the spatial representation of the microclimatic environment of plants to predict their response to climate change. Moreover, the acquisition of long-term data on the dynamics of plant-plant interactions, either through permanent plots or chronosequences of glacial recession, may represent powerful approaches to clarify the relationship between plant interactions and climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabien Anthelme
- Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement, UMR AMAPMontpellier, France
- Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor San AndrésLa Paz, Bolivia
| | - Lohengrin A. Cavieres
- Departamento de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de ConcepciónConcepción, Chile
- Instituto de Ecología y BiodiversidadSantiago, Chile
| | - Olivier Dangles
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UR 072, Laboratoire Evolution, Génomes et Spéciation, UPR 9034, Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueGif-sur-Yvette, France
- Université Paris-Sud 11Orsay, France
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131
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Schöb C, Michalet R, Cavieres LA, Pugnaire FI, Brooker RW, Butterfield BJ, Cook BJ, Kikvidze Z, Lortie CJ, Xiao S, Al Hayek P, Anthelme F, Cranston BH, García MC, Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y, Reid AM, le Roux PC, Lingua E, Nyakatya MJ, Touzard B, Zhao L, Callaway RM. A global analysis of bidirectional interactions in alpine plant communities shows facilitators experiencing strong reciprocal fitness costs. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2014; 202:95-105. [PMID: 24329871 DOI: 10.1111/nph.12641] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2013] [Accepted: 11/06/2013] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Facilitative interactions are defined as positive effects of one species on another, but bidirectional feedbacks may be positive, neutral, or negative. Understanding the bidirectional nature of these interactions is a fundamental prerequisite for the assessment of the potential evolutionary consequences of facilitation. In a global study combining observational and experimental approaches, we quantified the impact of the cover and richness of species associated with alpine cushion plants on reproductive traits of the benefactor cushions. We found a decline in cushion seed production with increasing cover of cushion-associated species, indicating that being a benefactor came at an overall cost. The effect of cushion-associated species was negative for flower density and seed set of cushions, but not for fruit set and seed quality. Richness of cushion-associated species had positive effects on seed density and modulated the effects of their abundance on flower density and fruit set, indicating that the costs and benefits of harboring associated species depend on the composition of the plant assemblage. Our study demonstrates 'parasitic' interactions among plants over a wide range of species and environments in alpine systems, and we consider their implications for the possible selective effects of interactions between benefactor and beneficiary species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Schöb
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, EEZA-CSIC, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Richard Michalet
- University of Bordeaux, UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC, 33405, Talence, France
| | - Lohengrin A Cavieres
- Departamento de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
- Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisco I Pugnaire
- Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, EEZA-CSIC, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120, Almería, Spain
| | - Rob W Brooker
- The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH, UK
| | - Bradley J Butterfield
- Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research, Northern Arizona University, PO Box 6077, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA
| | - Bradley J Cook
- Department of Biological Sciences, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN, USA
| | - Zaal Kikvidze
- 4D Research Institute, Ilia State University, 3/5 Cholokashvili Av., Tbilisi, 0162, Georgia
| | - Christopher J Lortie
- Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Sa Xiao
- MOE Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
| | - Patrick Al Hayek
- University of Bordeaux, UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC, 33405, Talence, France
- University of Bordeaux, UMR INRA 1202 BIOGECO, 33405, Talence, France
| | - Fabien Anthelme
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR AMAP, Boulevard de la Lironde, TA A-51/PS2, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France
| | - Brittany H Cranston
- Division of Biological Sciences and the Institute on Ecosystems, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA
| | - Mary-Carolina García
- Departamento de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
- Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet
- University of Bordeaux, UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC, 33405, Talence, France
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 31, CZ-370 05, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Anya M Reid
- Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2621-2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Peter C le Roux
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Emanuele Lingua
- Department TeSAF, University of Padova, Viale dell'Universitá 16, 35020, Legnaro, Italy
| | - Mawethu J Nyakatya
- Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
| | - Blaise Touzard
- University of Bordeaux, UMR INRA 1202 BIOGECO, 33405, Talence, France
| | - Liang Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, China
| | - Ragan M Callaway
- Division of Biological Sciences and the Institute on Ecosystems, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA
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Grace JB, Adler PB, Stanley Harpole W, Borer ET, Seabloom EW. Causal networks clarify productivity–richness interrelations, bivariate plots do not. Funct Ecol 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Peter B. Adler
- Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center Utah State University Logan Utah84322 USA
| | - W. Stanley Harpole
- Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology Iowa State University 251 Bessey Hall Ames Iowa50011 USA
| | - Elizabeth T. Borer
- Ecology, Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota 1987 Upper Buford CircleSt. Paul Minnesota55108 USA
| | - Eric W. Seabloom
- Ecology, Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota 1987 Upper Buford CircleSt. Paul Minnesota55108 USA
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133
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Simulated global change: contrasting short and medium term growth and reproductive responses of a common alpine/Arctic cushion plant to experimental warming and nutrient enhancement. SPRINGERPLUS 2014; 3:157. [PMID: 24790813 PMCID: PMC4000594 DOI: 10.1186/2193-1801-3-157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2014] [Accepted: 03/17/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Cushion plants are important components of alpine and Arctic plant communities around the world. They fulfill important roles as facilitators, nurse plants and foundation species across trophic levels for vascular plants, arthropods and soil microorganisms, the importance of these functions increasing with the relative severity of the environment. Here we report results from one of the few experimental studies simulating global change impacts on cushion plants; a factorial experiment with warming and nutrient enhancement that was applied to an alpine population of the common nurse plant, Silene acaulis, in sub-arctic Sweden. Experimental perturbations had significant short-term impacts on both stem elongation and leaf length. S. acaulis responded quickly by increasing stem elongation and (to a lesser extent) leaf length in the warming, nutrient, and the combined warming and nutrient enhancements. Cover and biomass also initially increased in response to the perturbations. However, after the initial positive short-term responses, S. acaulis cover declined in the manipulations, with the nutrient and combined warming and nutrient treatments having largest negative impact. No clear patterns were found for fruit production. Our results show that S. acaulis living in harsh environments has potential to react quickly when experiencing years with favorable conditions, and is more responsive to nutrient enhancement than to warming in terms of vegetative growth. While these conditions have an initial positive impact, populations experiencing longer-term increased nutrient levels will likely be negatively affected.
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