Can comparative approaches based on plant ecophysiological traits predict the nature of biotic interactions and individual plant species effects in ecosystems?

Abstract

Summary 0The development of general principles regarding biotic interactions involving plants\ or plant species e}ects in ecosystems\ is best achieved through simultaneous evaluation of several species[ We utilized a comparative approach involving 19 dicotyledonous herbaceous species\ to explore possible relationships between several plant eco! physiological traits and plant litter decomposition\ interactions involving competition and herbivory\ and plant species e}ects on soil properties[ 1 Decomposition rates of plant stem and leaf litter were negatively related to plant mass\ time until~owering and vegetative growth rate\ and positively related to stem nitrogen content[ Root decomposition was also related to several traits[ Multiple regression relationships showed that 63) and 73) of the variation across species for stem and root litter decomposition\ respectively\ could be predicted by plant traitst his suggests that plant traits may be powerful predictors of decomposition and have potential as alternative predictors to the litter quality characteristics that previous studies have concentrated on[ 2 Palatability of both seedlings and leaf discs by the invertebrate herbivores Deroceras reticulatum and Listronotus bonariensis were frequently related to plant traits[ Those traits that showed the strongest relationships with the palatability data included various vegetative growth characteristics and "for the leaf disc data# nitrogen con! centrations of~owering plant stems[ 3 Competitive e}ects of the dicotyledonous species against a phytometer species\ the grass Lolium perenne\ were negatively related to leaf nitrogen concentration\ and multiple regression relationships involving this trait in combination with others explai! ned over 49) of the variation across species[ The competitive response of both plant mass and total seed production to L[ perenne was poorly related to plant traits[ 4 The e}ects of plant species on soil properties including microbial biomass and activity\ pH\ nitrate concentration and total nitrogen were often closely related to various plant traits[ Multiple regression relationships revealed that combinations of several traits were often important in determining these e}ects^the strongest relationships found were for e}ects of senescent plants on soil respiration and for the e}ects of~owering plants on soil nitrate[ Plant traits were therefore clearly important in determining plant species e}ects on soils[ 5 Our study emphasizes the importance of plant traits in understanding "and pre! dicting# species interactions and e}ects in communities and ecosystems\ and shows that properties considered at the whole plant level have the potential to manifest

The ecological adaptability of four typical plants during the early successional stage of a tropical rainforest

“…Using mixtures of 14 calcareous grassland plant species drawn from three functional groups (nonleguminous forbs, grasses, and leguminous forbs), Hanley et al (2004) concluded that because of the idiosyncratic responses of individual species, the categorization of plants into broad functional groups was of limited use to understand the impacts of elevated atmospheric CO 2 on plant communities. Moreover, plant species which were selected from the dicotyledonous herbs functional group had large difference between species for all of the ecophysiological traits measured (Wardle et al 1998). In this paper, we also found significant differences in ecophysiological traits between grasses.…”

“…However, in the early successional stage, living environments are difficult for plants to survive due to excessive light, lack of water, and scarce nutrient in the soil (García-Orth & Martínz-Ramos 2011). But the vast energy fixing by plants through strong photosynthetic capacity (Navas et al 2010), root growth (Maestre et al 2001(Maestre et al , 2009, and litter decomposition (Wardle et al 1998;Maestre et al 2001) improves the habitat and accelerates the process of plant succession to a certain extent. Grasses can ameliorate the abiotic environment and facilitate the introduction of other species.…”

“…Smith et al (1993) coined the term "plant functional types", and Gitay and Noble (1997) defined it as "set of species showing similar responses to the environment and similar effects on ecosystem function". There have been some researches on plant functional groups (Wardle et al 1998;Gebauer et al 2002;Reich et al 2003;Hanley et al 2004;Chen et al 2005;Golluscio & Oesterheld 2007;Letts et al 2010;Kamiyama et al 2010). The usual groupings are defined by discrete and measurable biological trait differences (e.g., whether a plant fixes nitrogen or not, has perennial woody tissues or not, and has a given photosynthetic pathway or not) (Reich et al 2003).…”

Leaf structure and defence control litter decomposition rate across species and life forms in regional floras on two continents

“…The correlation was particularly strong in the 17 graminoid monocots (r l 0.69, P 0.01). In addition, Wardle et al (1998) reported consistent positive (although non-significant) trends between leaf palatability to the beetle Listronotus bonariensis or the slug Deroceras reticulatum and litter decomposition rate in 20 herbaceous dicots in New Zealand. A recurrent pattern emerging from these experiments (Grime et al, 1996 ;Wardle et al, 1998 ; N. Pe!…”

Going Back to Basics: Importance of Ecophysiology when Choosing Functional Traits for Studying Communities and Ecosystems

“…For instance, ecophysiological approaches, even when not labeled as functional ecology, have been successfully used in studies on species distribution (Borchert 1994), functional convergence (Grime 1977;Wright et al 2002), species interactions (Wardle et al 1998), mechanism of coexistence (Markesteijn et al 2011), environmental filtering (Grime 1977;Borchert 1994), ecosystem processes/services (Wardle et al 1998) and conservation biology (Wikelski & Cooke 2006). …”