10.5061/DRYAD.373MG
Kumordzi, Bright B.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
de Bello, Francesco
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Freschet, Grégoire
Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier
French National Centre for Scientific Research
Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Yoann
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Lepš, Jan
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Wardle, David A.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Data from: Linkage of plant trait space to successional age and species
richness in boreal forest understory vegetation
Dryad
dataset
2016
niche packing
trait overlap
plant competition
spatial heterogeneity
within - and between - species variability
2016-07-13T00:00:00Z
2016-07-13T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12458
20596 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Determining the changes in within- and between-species functional
diversity in plant communities, and their contribution to overall species
trait overlap, can enhance efforts at understanding mechanisms of species
coexistence. However, little is known about how variation in species
functional diversity influences variation in species trait overlap among
contrasting environments. Here, we studied the understorey vegetation in a
well-characterized 5000-year-old chronosequence involving 30 forested
islands that differ greatly in size, soil fertility, and species
diversity. Across this chronosequence we expected consistent changes in
both within- and between-species functional diversity that would lead to
decreasing overall species trait overlap with increasing successional age,
species richness, understorey vegetation density and spatial heterogeneity
of soil resources. For each island we measured specific leaf area (SLA) of
each of ten individuals of each plant species present. Using a variance
decomposition method, we partitioned the total community functional
diversity of SLA on each island into within- and between-species
functional diversity. Further, we estimated overall species trait overlap
as the ratio of within-species functional diversity to total functional
diversity. Using regression analyses we then explored relationships of
within- and between-species functional diversity, and of overall species
trait overlap, with several environmental variables across the 30 islands.
Consistent with our hypotheses, overall species trait overlap decreased
with successional age due to a statistically significant decrease in
within-species functional diversity, and decreased with species richness
due to a simultaneous decrease in within-species functional diversity and
increase in between-species functional diversity. Against our predictions,
overall species trait overlap increased in more competitive environments
and did not change with increasing spatial heterogeneity of soil N or P.
Synthesis: Our study suggests niche packing as a key mechanism for species
coexistence in plant communities. Using SLA as an integrator of plant
ecological strategy we show that community successional age and species
richness are significantly linked to trait space distribution of plant
individuals of boreal forest understorey vegetation and therefore to local
species coexistence. Our results also suggest that the trait space of
dominant and subordinate species may respond differently to local
environmental variables.
Kumordzi et al. 2015_dataF