Complex facilitation and competition in a temperate grassland: loss of plant diversity and elevated CO2 have divergent and opposite effects on oak establishment

Wright, Alexandra J.; Schnitzer, Stefan A.; Dickie, Ian A.; Gunderson, Alex R.; Pintér, Gabriella A.; Mangan, Scott A.; Reich, Peter B.

doi:10.1007/s00442-012-2420-y

Cited by 47 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(107 reference statements)

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“…Interestingly, previous work has demonstrated that soil moisture at greater soil depths (.6 cm) is lower in highdiversity communities (Adair et al 2011), due mostly to greater competition for soil water at depth. Conversely, surface soil moisture seems to be more strongly controlled by evaporation at the soil surface (Wright et al 2013). Evaporation is higher in lower-diversity plots because a greater proportion of the soil surface is exposed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Here we utilize that pattern to implicitly manipulate competition intensity between plants by manipulating species richness of plots. Conversely, a relationship between manipulated plant diversity and facilitation intensity is much less well represented in the literature and less intuitive to most ecologists (but see Wright et al 2013). Here we show that microclimate amelioration increases sharply with increasing levels of plant diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, increased diversity in BioCON results in greater competition for resources and greater potential for facilitation under a higher-density canopy (Adair et al 2011, Mueller et al 2013, Wright et al 2013. For the purposes of this experiment, we utilized this biodiversity gradient to simultaneously manipulate both competition (via reduction in resource availability) and facilitation (via amelioration of environmental conditions).…”

Section: Study Site and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All seedlings were 1-3 years old at time of planting. In each plot we planted three large-size seedlings (.15 cm tall), three medium-size seedlings (10-15 cm tall), and five small-size seedlings (,5 cm tall), as we predicted that survival rates of the smallest size class would be the lowest (Wright et al 2013). We measured pine basal diameter and height every two weeks from 16 June 2010 to 19 October 2010, and again from 10 May 2011 to 22 September 2011, at which point all pines were harvested.…”

Section: Seedling Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent work has identified a diversity gradient as useful for these purposes because it provides a gradient of both types of neighbor interactions; i.e., greater diversity equates to more potential for competition ) and facilitation (Wright et al 2013), as both resource supply and microenvironment are altered by increasing plant diversity , Adair et al 2009, Wright et al 2013. The biotic interactions associated with herbaceous diversity result in part from greater biomass in diverse plots, but additionally from the impacts of greater functional diversity on resources and the microenvironment, as well as increased niche complementarity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Living close to your neighbors: the importance of both competition and facilitation in plant communities

Wright

Schnitzer

Reich

2014

Ecology

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Abstract. Recent work has demonstrated that competition and facilitation likely operate jointly in plant communities, but teasing out the relative role of each has proven difficult. Here we address how competition and facilitation vary with seasonal fluctuations in environmental conditions, and how the effects of these fluctuations change with plant ontogeny. We planted three sizes of pine seedlings (Pinus strobus) into an herbaceous diversity experiment and measured pine growth every two weeks for two growing seasons. Both competition and facilitation occurred at different times of year between pines and their neighbors. Facilitation was important for the smallest pines when environmental conditions were severe. This effect decreased as pines got larger. Competition was stronger than facilitation overall and outweighed facilitative effects at annual time scales. Our data suggest that both competition and the counter-directional effects of facilitation may be more common and more intense than previously considered.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Site and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seedling Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Living close to your neighbors: the importance of both competition and facilitation in plant communities

Wright

Schnitzer

Reich

2014

Ecology

Self Cite

136

121

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Stress gradients and biodiversity: monoculture vulnerability drives stronger biodiversity effects during drought years

Wright

Mommer

Barry

et al. 2020

Ecology

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Climate change will increase the likelihood and severity of droughts into the future. Although diversity may buffer plant communities against the negative effects of drought, the mechanisms underlying this pattern remain unclear. Higher‐diversity plant communities may have a higher likelihood of including more drought‐resistant species that can compensate for drought‐sensitive species (“insurance effects”). Alternatively, higher‐diversity communities may alter environmental conditions and improve performance of even drought‐sensitive species. Here we planted nonleguminous forbs and grasses into monocultures and four‐ and eight‐species mixtures, and measured species and plot productivity every year from 2000 to 2010. We found that six of our eight species were suppressed when growing in monoculture during dry years. These same species were unaffected by drought when growing in higher‐diversity mixtures. Because of this poor performance in monoculture (not insurance effects), the biodiversity productivity relationship was strongest during the driest years. If biodiversity ameliorates hot/dry conditions and therefore improves performance of drought‐sensitive species during periods of low rainfall, this may mean biodiversity can be used as a tool to protect individual species from drought conditions.

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Effects of competition and herbivory over woody seedling growth in a temperate woodland trump the effects of elevated CO2

et al. 2018

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A trend of increasing woody plant density, or woody thickening, has been observed across grassland and woodland ecosystems globally. It has been proposed that increasing atmospheric [CO] is a major driver of broad scale woody thickening, though few field-based experiments have tested this hypothesis. Our study utilises a Free Air CO Enrichment experiment to examine the effect of elevated [CO] (eCO) on three mechanisms that can cause woody thickening, namely (i) woody plant recruitment, (ii) seedling growth, and (iii) post-disturbance resprouting. The study took place in a eucalypt-dominated temperate grassy woodland. Annual assessments show that juvenile woody plant recruitment occurred over the first 3 years of CO fumigation, though eCO did not affect rates of recruitment. Manipulative experiments were established to examine the effect of eCO on above-ground seedling growth using transplanted Eucalyptus tereticornis (Myrtaceae) and Hakea sericea (Proteaceae) seedlings. There was no positive effect of eCO on biomass of either species following 12 months of exposure to treatments. Lignotubers (i.e., resprouting organs) of harvested E. tereticornis seedlings that were retained in situ for an additional year were used to examine resprouting response. The likelihood of resprouting and biomass of resprouts increased with lignotuber volume, which was not itself affected by eCO. The presence of herbaceous competitors and defoliation by invertebrates and pathogens were found to greatly reduce growth and/or resprouting response of seedlings. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that future increases in atmospheric [CO] will, by itself, promote woody plant recruitment in eucalypt-dominated temperate grassy woodlands.

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Complex facilitation and competition in a temperate grassland: loss of plant diversity and elevated CO2 have divergent and opposite effects on oak establishment

Cited by 47 publications

References 68 publications

Living close to your neighbors: the importance of both competition and facilitation in plant communities

Living close to your neighbors: the importance of both competition and facilitation in plant communities

Stress gradients and biodiversity: monoculture vulnerability drives stronger biodiversity effects during drought years

Effects of competition and herbivory over woody seedling growth in a temperate woodland trump the effects of elevated CO2

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