کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
4377212 | 1303415 | 2010 | 10 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
![عکس صفحه اول مقاله: What enables coexistence in plant communities? Weak versus strong species traits and the role of local processes What enables coexistence in plant communities? Weak versus strong species traits and the role of local processes](/preview/png/4377212.png)
Explaining the coexistence of species that basically depend on the same resources has been a brainteaser for generations of ecologists. Different mechanisms have been proposed to facilitate coexistence in plant communities, where space is an important resource. Using a stochastic cellular automaton simulation model we analyze – separately and in combination – the influence of different species traits and processes which alter local competition on the coexistence of plant species over a fixed time horizon. We show that different species traits operate on different time scales in competition. We therefore suggest the concept of weak versus strong traits according to short- or long-term exclusion of species differing in these traits. As a consequence, highly non-linear trade-offs between weak and strong traits can result in communities. Furthermore, we found that trade-offs based on physiological species traits such as plant lifetime, dispersal range and plant growth, did not support broad and long-term coexistence—further processes such as density-dependent mortality and light-dependent colonization were necessary. This suggests that coexistence in plant communities requires (stabilizing) local processes to support the (equalizing) trade-offs in species traits.
Journal: Ecological Modelling - Volume 221, Issue 19, 24 September 2010, Pages 2227–2236