Experimental plant communities develop phylogenetically overdispersed abundance distributions during assembly

Allan, Eric; Jenkins, Tania; Fergus, Alexander J. F.; Roscher, Christiane; Fischer, Markus; Petermann, Jana S.; Weisser, Wolfgang W.; Schmid, Bernhard

doi:10.1890/11-2279.1

Cited by 42 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Phylogenetic diversity.-A phylogeny of all 60 species in the Jena Experiment species pool was constructed based on four genes, using Bayesian methods (for details, see Allan et al [2013] and Appendix C). Two measures of phylogenetic diversity were calculated from this phylogeny: mean pairwise distance (MPD) and mean nearest neighbor distance (MNND).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functionally and phylogenetically diverse plant communities key to soil biota

Milcu

Allan

Roscher

et al. 2013

Ecology

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Recent studies assessing the role of biological diversity for ecosystem functioning indicate that the diversity of functional traits and the evolutionary history of species in a community, not the number of taxonomic units, ultimately drives the biodiversity-ecosystem-function relationship. Here, we simultaneously assessed the importance of plant functional trait and phylogenetic diversity as predictors of major trophic groups of soil biota (abundance and diversity), six years from the onset of a grassland biodiversity experiment. Plant functional and phylogenetic diversity were generally better predictors of soil biota than the traditionally used species or functional group richness. Functional diversity was a reliable predictor for most biota, with the exception of soil microorganisms, which were better predicted by phylogenetic diversity. These results provide empirical support for the idea that the diversity of plant functional traits and the diversity of evolutionary lineages in a community are important for maintaining higher abundances and diversity of soil communities. Abstract. Recent studies assessing the role of biological diversity for ecosystem functioning indicate that the diversity of functional traits and the evolutionary history of species in a community, not the number of taxonomic units, ultimately drives the biodiversityecosystem-function relationship. Here, we simultaneously assessed the importance of plant functional trait and phylogenetic diversity as predictors of major trophic groups of soil biota (abundance and diversity), six years from the onset of a grassland biodiversity experiment. Plant functional and phylogenetic diversity were generally better predictors of soil biota than the traditionally used species or functional group richness. Functional diversity was a reliable predictor for most biota, with the exception of soil microorganisms, which were better predicted by phylogenetic diversity. These results provide empirical support for the idea that the diversity of plant functional traits and the diversity of evolutionary lineages in a community are important for maintaining higher abundances and diversity of soil communities.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functionally and phylogenetically diverse plant communities key to soil biota

Milcu

Allan

Roscher

et al. 2013

Ecology

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“…Analyses of species interactions have traditionally focused on competition as the major force shaping patterns of species co-occurrences (Grime, 1973;Diamond, 1975). Darwin's (1859) argument that closely related species compete stronger than their distantly related counterparts (the competition-relatedness hypothesis) has become a central tenet of community ecology (Svenning et al, 2008;Allan et al, 2013), although Cahill et al (2008) found little direct evidence for this assertion. In connection with the competitive exclusion principle Darwin's hypothesis predicts that natural communities should contain more evolutionary lineages than expected from a random assembly taken from the regional species pool (phylogenetic overdispersion, Webb et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of tree plantations on the phylogenetic structure of understorey plant communities

Piwczyński

Puchałka

Ulrich

2016

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…In addition, long-term effects due to priority effects and the role of dispersal limitation are hard to identify in communities with unknown assembly history. Biodiversity experiments, where abiotic effects are controlled for by randomizing plots with different plant diversity under relatively homogeneous environmental conditions are an opportunity to study biotic processes of community assembly [16]. In previous experiments it has been shown that, when experimental communities of different species richness are opened to colonization of new species, realized species richness can converge rapidly to similar levels [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different Assembly Processes Drive Shifts in Species and Functional Composition in Experimental Grasslands Varying in Sown Diversity and Community History

et al. 2014

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BackgroundThe prevalence of different biotic processes (limiting similarity, weaker competitor exclusion) and historical contingency due to priority effects are in the focus of ongoing discussions about community assembly and non-random functional trait distributions.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe experimentally manipulated assembly history in a grassland biodiversity experiment (Jena Experiment) by applying two factorially crossed split-plot treatments to all communities: (i) duration of weeding (never weeded since sowing or cessation of weeding after 3 or 6 years); (ii) seed addition (control vs. seed addition 4 years after sowing). Spontaneous colonization of new species in the control treatment without seed addition increased realized species richness and functional richness (FRic), indicating continuously denser packing of niches. Seed addition resulted in forced colonization and increased realized species richness, FRic, functional evenness (FEve) and functional divergence (FDiv), i.e. higher abundances of species with extreme trait values. Furthermore, the colonization of new species led to a decline in FEve through time, suggesting that weaker competitors were reduced in abundance or excluded. Communities with higher initial species richness or with longer time since cessation of weeding were more restricted in the entry of new species and showed smaller increases in FRic after seed addition than other communities. The two assembly-history treatments caused a divergence of species compositions within communities originally established with the same species. Communities originally established with different species converged in species richness and functional trait composition over time, but remained more distinct in species composition.Conclusions/SignificanceContrasting biotic processes (limiting similarity, weaker competitor exclusion) increase functional convergence between communities initially established with different species. Historical contingency with regard to realized species compositions could not be eradicated by cessation of weeding or forced colonization and was still detectable 5 years after application of these treatments, providing evidence for the role of priority effects in community assembly.

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Experimental plant communities develop phylogenetically overdispersed abundance distributions during assembly

Cited by 42 publications

References 54 publications

Functionally and phylogenetically diverse plant communities key to soil biota

Functionally and phylogenetically diverse plant communities key to soil biota

Influence of tree plantations on the phylogenetic structure of understorey plant communities

Different Assembly Processes Drive Shifts in Species and Functional Composition in Experimental Grasslands Varying in Sown Diversity and Community History

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