Competitive interactions across a soil fertility gradient in a multispecies forest

Coates, K. David; Lilles, Erica; Astrup, Rasmus

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.12072

Cited by 69 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Alternatively, mycorrhizal fungi may respond positively to fertilizer addition if they are nutrient limited (Treseder and Allen 2002) or, more in line with the evidence observed here, if they respond positively to associated changes in soil pH (Kluber et al 2012;Walker et al 2014). Significant indicator OTUs in the unfertilized treatment included fungal genera identified as putative plant pathogens, antagonists of other fungi, and saprotrophs, suggesting that fertilization may have impacted the strength of some biotic interactions, as has been observed for competition in some plant communities (e.g., Coates et al 2013), or may have simply increased the abundance of other fungi relative to those in these functional groups. Fungal community structure was not observed to be significantly associated with soil P, root biomass, or the fertilization treatment itself in the structural equation model, even though these variables represent proxies of resource availability for these groups of fungi.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Response of belowground communities to short-term phosphorus addition in a phosphorus-limited woodland

et al. 2015

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Aims Soil biota regulate essential ecosystem processes but our understanding of how soil fertility constrains biotic interactions remains limited. We investigated belowground responses to short-term phosphorus (P) fertilization in a P-limited woodland. Methods Ten Eucalyptus tereticornis were randomly selected and five fertilized with superphosphate equivalent to 50 kg P ha −1 over 6 months. We estimated aboveground (understory) and belowground plant biomass, and collected samples for soil chemistry, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) root colonization, soil fungal abundance and community composition, and extraction of nematodes and microarthropods. Results P-fertilization increased root biomass, abundance of non-AM fungi, and abundances of Collembola, and altered fungal community structure, but was associated with a decrease in predatory nematodes. Structural equation modelling indicated that effects on Collembola and fungal abundances were mediated by direct effects of the fertilizer treatment and/or indirect effects via root biomass responses. However, fungal community compositional changes and reductions in predatory nematodes resulted primarily due to fertilization-mediated changes in soil pH. Conclusion Our study shows that understory plant communities and soil biota are P-limited at the study site but that some biotic groups appear to be more sensitive to changes in soil pH than to increases in P availability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Response of belowground communities to short-term phosphorus addition in a phosphorus-limited woodland

et al. 2015

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“…A circular plot with a radius of 7.6 m was located around each focal tree since this plot size is big enough to capture most neighbourhood interactions according to the mean size of tree crowns and the distance to nearest neighbours (see Appendix S3). In this sense, the distance of each tree to its nearest neighbour was in most cases lower than 5 m. Plots of comparable size have been used to account for neighbouring competition in other forest studies (Papaik & Canham ; Coates, Lilles & Astrup ). All individuals of tree species taller than 1.3 m were identified, and their d.b.h.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional diversity enhances silver fir growth resilience to an extreme drought

2016

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Summary It is expected that extreme climate events such as droughts will increase in both severity and intensity as a consequence of forecasted climate change. Complementarity among tree species in resource acquisition strategy may reduce interspecific competition and increase the occurrence of facilitative interactions, resulting in an improved tree growth and resilience to extreme climatic events. However, the response of individual trees growing in more functionally diverse stands to extreme events is still under debate. We investigate the growth response of silver fir (Abies alba) to an extreme drought event which occurred in 1985–1986 in the Central Spanish Pyrenees and how the growth and resilience of trees relate to their neighbourhood functional diversity, stand heterogeneity and intraspecific and interspecific competition. Dendroecological methods were used to reconstruct radial growth. We recorded all tree species living around each sampled tree and calculated indices of intra‐ and interspecific competition among coexisting trees. Functional diversity around each focal tree was calculated by using the Rao's quadratic entropy. Silver fir growth decreased significantly in response to the drought in the vast majority of trees, but most of them showed a growth recovery 3 years later. Despite most trees showed negative growth trends following the drought event (70%), those trees growing in more functionally diverse stands were more resilient, recovered more quickly and displayed greater growth and growth trends. Synthesis. The presented findings support the growing body of evidence that shows a positive impact of diversity on forest function. In addition, we provide a direct linkage between tree growth response to climate at the individual tree scale and a direct quantification of neighbourhood functional diversity and competition. An enhanced functional diversity facilitating a more efficient use of resources at the interspecific level and potentially increasing facilitative interactions contributes to lessening the negative impacts of extreme events as droughts on forest growth.

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“…Forest structure factors were taken here as proxies of the environmental conditions because they may indicate some community processes such as competition for resources. For instance, a high mean basal area or DBH is associated with a high competition for light (Coates, Lilles & Astrup 2013). A principal component analysis (PCA) on all 21 environmental factors across the 74 plots defined a first gradient (PCA axis 1) of decreasing soil fertility and clay content and a second gradient (PCA axis 2) of decreasing dry season length and forest basal area and diameter at breast height (Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental factors predict community functional composition in Amazonian forests

et al. 2013

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1. The consequences of biodiversity loss for ecosystem services largely depend on the functional identities of extirpated species. However, poor descriptions of spatial patterns of community functional composition across landscapes hamper accurate predictions, particularly in highly diverse tropical regions. Therefore, understanding how community functional composition varies across environmental gradients remains an important challenge. 2. We sampled 15 functional traits in 800 Neotropical tree species across 13 forest plots representative of the broad climatic and soil gradients encompassed by three widespread lowland forest habitats (terra firme forests on clay-rich soils, seasonally flooded forests and white-sand forests) at opposite ends of Amazonia (Peru and French Guiana). We combined univariate and multivariate approaches to test the magnitude and predictability of environmental filtering on community leaf and wood functional composition. 3. Directional shifts in community functional composition correlated with environmental changes across the 13 plots, with denser leaves, stems and roots in forests occurring in environments with limited water and soil-nutrient availability. Critically, these relationships allowed us to accurately predict the functional composition of 61 additional forest plots from environmental data alone. 4. Synthesis. Environmental filtering consistently shapes the functional composition of highly diverse tropical forests at large scales across the terra firme, seasonally flooded and white-sand forests of lowland Amazonia. Environmental factors drive and allow the prediction of variation in community functional composition among habitat types in Amazonian forests

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Competitive interactions across a soil fertility gradient in a multispecies forest

Cited by 69 publications

References 43 publications

Response of belowground communities to short-term phosphorus addition in a phosphorus-limited woodland

Response of belowground communities to short-term phosphorus addition in a phosphorus-limited woodland

Functional diversity enhances silver fir growth resilience to an extreme drought

Environmental factors predict community functional composition in Amazonian forests

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