Intra-specific leaf trait responses to species richness at two different local scales

Davrinche, Andréa; Haider, Sylvia

doi:10.1016/j.baae.2021.04.011

Cited by 20 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…This reveals that species richness selects for communities with higher resource acquisition rate and more diverse resource acquisition strategy (Wright et al, 2004 ). These responses were observed in diversity experiments in grassland and forest ecosystems (Davrinche & Haider, 2021 ; Siebenkäs et al, 2017 ) and was interpreted as a limiting similarity process enhancing complementarity in light and nutrient resources (Gubsch et al, 2011 ; McKane et al, 2002 ). On the opposite, in communities that were less diverse, dominant individuals converge toward graminoid‐like species with high nutrient conservation (e.g., Typha in nutrient‐rich ecosystem, Eriophorum and Carex in nutrient‐poor ecosystem).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Species richness drives selection of individuals within wetlands based on traits related to acquisition and utilization of light

Deschamps

Proulx

Rheault

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Selection within natural communities has mainly been studied along large abiotic gradients, while the selection of individuals within populations should occur locally in response to biotic filters. To better leverage the role of the latter, we considered the hierarchal nature of environmental selection for the multiple dimensions of the trait space across biological levels, that is, from the species to the community and the ecosystem levels. We replicated a natural species richness gradient where communities included from two to 16 species within four wetlands (bog, fen, meadow, and marsh) contrasting in plant productivity. We sampled functional traits from individuals in each community and used hierarchical distributional modeling in order to analyze the independent variation of the mean and dispersion of functional trait space at ecosystem, community, and species levels. The plant productivity gradient observed between wetlands led to species turnover and selection of traits related to leaf nutrient conservation/acquisition strategy. Within wetlands, plant species richness drove trait variation across both communities and species. Among communities, variation of species richness correlated with the selection of individuals according to their use of vertical space and leaf adaptations to light conditions. Within species, intraspecific light-related trait variation in response to species richness was associated with stable population density for some species, while others reached low population density in more diverse communities. Within ecosystems, variation in biotic conditions selects individuals along functional dimensions that are independent of those selected across ecosystems. Within-species variations of light-related traits are related to demographic responses, linking biotic selection of individuals within communities to eco-evolutionary dynamics of species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Species richness drives selection of individuals within wetlands based on traits related to acquisition and utilization of light

Deschamps

Proulx

Rheault

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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“…For each tree species of the experiment, 10 samples consisting of 10–25 pooled fresh leaves were collected across all diversity levels from mid‐August to October 2018 (Davrinche & Haider, 2021). Each sample was dried at 80°C for 2 days and milled for 5 min at 26 shakes per second.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abiotic and biotic drivers of tree trait effects on soil microbial biomass and soil carbon concentration

Beugnon

Bruelheide

et al. 2023

Ecological Monographs

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Forests are ecosystems critical to understanding the global carbon budget, due to their carbon sequestration potential in both aboveground and belowground compartments, especially in species‐rich forests. Soil carbon sequestration is strongly linked to soil microbial communities, and this link is mediated by the tree community, likely due to modifications of microenvironmental conditions (i.e., biotic conditions, soil properties, and microclimate). We studied soil carbon concentration and the soil microbial biomass of 180 local neighborhoods along a gradient of tree species richness ranging from 1 to 16 tree species per plot in a Chinese subtropical forest experiment (BEF‐China). Tree productivity and different tree functional traits were measured at the neighborhood level. We tested the effects of tree productivity, functional trait identity, and dissimilarity on soil carbon concentrations, and their mediation by the soil microbial biomass and microenvironmental conditions. Our analyses showed a strong positive correlation between soil microbial biomass and soil carbon concentrations. In addition, soil carbon concentration increased with tree productivity and tree root diameter, while it decreased with litterfall C:N content. Moreover, tree productivity and tree functional traits (e.g., fungal root association and litterfall C:N ratio) modulated microenvironmental conditions with substantial consequences for soil microbial biomass. We also showed that soil history and topography should be considered in future experiments and tree plantations, as soil carbon concentrations were higher at sites where historical (i.e., at the beginning of the experiment) carbon concentrations were high, themselves being strongly affected by the topography. Altogether, these results implied that the quantification of the different soil carbon pools is critical for understanding microbial community–soil carbon stock relationships and their dependence on tree diversity and microenvironmental conditions.

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“…The replicate numbers vary to some extent, besides tree species and richness level corrections, due to self-thinning making some trees very rare in certain richness levels. Moreover, we followed a sampling scheme that matches the sampling of leaf traits [55], which increases the intended tree replicate numbers per tree richness level from 5 to 6 in monocultures and to 9 in 2-species mixtures. Effects of differences in tree replicate numbers were accounted for in the analyses by using replicate numbers as a covariate in caterpillar richness analyses (see Section 2.5.1).…”

Section: Study Region and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), nitrogen (N), carbon (C), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), and phosphorus (P) were measured on all trees used in the study (details on leaf trait measurements are provided in Supplement S1; see also [55,63]). The selection of leaf traits from candidates for analysis was based on internal collinearities (Pearson r < 7; see Figure S1 for trait correlations).…”

Section: Leaf Trait Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The structural leaf traits SLA and LDMC were not included in analyses because of their high correlation with each other, and of SLA with N and LDMC with C. Leaf samples were collected from multiple tree individuals per tree species between August and October 2018 and comprised only fully developed, non-senescent leaves free of damage from herbivores, pathogens, or mechanical stress. Leaf traits were averaged for statistical analyses for each tree species per tree richness level in order to account for neighborhood richness-induced changes in leaf traits [55,64].…”

Section: Leaf Trait Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Leaf Nutritional Content, Tree Richness, and Season Shape the Caterpillar Functional Trait Composition Hosted by Trees

Anttonen

Chesters

et al. 2022

Insects

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Nutritional content of host plants is expected to drive caterpillar species assemblages and their trait composition. These relationships are altered by tree richness-induced neighborhood variation and a seasonal decline in leaf quality. We tested how key functional traits related to the growth and defenses of the average caterpillar hosted by a tree species are shaped by nutritional host quality. We measured morphological traits and estimated plant community-level diet breadth based on occurrences from 1020 caterpillars representing 146 species in a subtropical tree diversity experiment from spring to autumn in one year. We focused on interspecific caterpillar trait variation by analyzing presence-only patterns of caterpillar species for each tree species. Our results show that tree richness positively affected caterpillar species-sharing among tree species, which resulted in lowered trait variation and led to higher caterpillar richness for each tree species. However, community-level diet breadth depended more on the nutritional content of host trees. Higher nutritional quality also supported species-poorer but more abundant communities of smaller and less well-defended caterpillars. This study demonstrates that the leaf nutritional quality of trees shapes caterpillar trait composition across diverse species assemblages at fine spatial scales in a way that can be predicted by ecological theory.

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Intra-specific leaf trait responses to species richness at two different local scales

Cited by 20 publications

References 72 publications

Species richness drives selection of individuals within wetlands based on traits related to acquisition and utilization of light

Species richness drives selection of individuals within wetlands based on traits related to acquisition and utilization of light

Abiotic and biotic drivers of tree trait effects on soil microbial biomass and soil carbon concentration

Leaf Nutritional Content, Tree Richness, and Season Shape the Caterpillar Functional Trait Composition Hosted by Trees

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