New Multicentury Evidence for Dispersal Limitation during Primary Succession

Makoto, Kobayashi; Wilson, Scott D.

doi:10.1086/686199

Cited by 16 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…In the blast zone (lacking biological legacies), community development hinges on colonization from seed. Here, as in other primary successional systems, establishment can be seed limited (Makoto & Wilson, 2016;Titus & Bishop, 2014;Wood & del Moral, 2000) or site limited (e.g. high irradiance, strong evaporative demand or infertile soils; Chapin & Bliss, 1989;Tsuyuzaki & del Moral, 1995;Walker, Clarkson, Silvester, Clarkson, & R., 2003;Buma et al, 2017).…”

Section: Variation In Succession Across the Disturbanceseverity Gramentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing conceptual models of early plant succession across a disturbance gradient

et al. 2019

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Studies of succession have a long history in ecology, but rigorous tests of general, unifying principles are rare. One barrier to these tests of theory is the paucity of longitudinal studies that span the broad gradients of disturbance severity that characterize large, infrequent disturbances. The cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens (Washington, USA) in 1980 produced a heterogeneous landscape of disturbance conditions, including primary to secondary successional habitats, affording a unique opportunity to explore how rates and patterns of community change relate to disturbance severity, post‐eruption site conditions and time. In this novel synthesis, we combined data from three long‐term (c. 30‐year) studies to compare rates and patterns of community change across three ‘zones’ representing a gradient of disturbance severity: primary successional blast zone, secondary successional tree blowdown/standing snag zone and secondary successional intact forest canopy/tephra deposit zone. Consistent with theory, rates of change in most community metrics (species composition, species richness, species gain/loss and rank abundance) decreased with time across the disturbance gradient. Surprisingly, rates of change were often greatest at intermediate‐severity disturbance and similarly low at high‐ and low‐severity disturbance. There was little evidence of compositional convergence among or within zones, counter to theory. Within zones, rates of change did not differ among ‘site types’ defined by pre‐ or post‐eruption site characteristics (disturbance history, legacy effects or substrate characteristics). Synthesis. The hump‐shaped relationships with disturbance severity runs counter to the theory predicting that community change will be slower during primary than during secondary succession. The similarly low rates of change after high‐ and low‐severity disturbance reflect differing sets of controls: seed limitation and abiotic stress in the blast zone vs. vegetative re‐emergence and low light in the tephra zone. Sites subjected to intermediate‐severity disturbance were the most dynamic, supporting species with a greater diversity of regenerative traits and seral roles (ruderal, forest and non‐forest). Succession in this post‐eruption landscape reflects the complex, multifaceted nature of volcanic disturbance (including physical force, heating and burial) and the variety of ways in which biological systems can respond to these disturbance effects. Our results underscore the value of comparative studies of long‐term, ecological processes for testing the assumptions and predictions of successional theory.

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Section: Variation In Succession Across the Disturbanceseverity Gramentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing conceptual models of early plant succession across a disturbance gradient

et al. 2019

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“…There was a general trend for dispersal limitation to be more important than other environmental filters in the early stages of the primary succession, from an array of environments including tropical (Losos, ), temperate (Lichter, ), boreal (Chapin, Walker, Fastie, & Sharman, ; Fastie, ) and arctic (Makoto & Wilson, ). Dispersal limitation early in succession was found in various types of vegetation: riparian forest (Nossov, Hollingsworth, Ruess, & Kielland, ), boreal forest (Fastie, ), lowland grassland (Plückers et al, ), peatlands (Campbell, Rochefort, & Lavoie, ) and alpine tundra (Makoto & Wilson, ) (Figure c). The wide‐spread occurrence of dispersal limitation early in succession suggests that its importance may not depend on climate.…”

Section: When and Where Does Dispersal Limitation Exist?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, dispersal limitation in glacier forelands was assessed in relatively few areas, mainly in Europe (e.g. Buma, Bisbing, Krapek, & Wright, ; Makoto & Wilson, ; Nascimbene, Mayrhofer, Dainese, & Bilovitz, ) and North America (e.g. Fastie, ; Jones & del Moral, ).…”

Section: When and Where Does Dispersal Limitation Exist?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the rate of vegetation development is lower in the chronosequence with the larger spatial scale (with a distant seed source) relative to the chronosequence with the smaller scale (with a nearby seed source), dispersal can be inferred to limit the rate of primary succession over long‐term, including later successional stages (Figure ). For example, Makoto and Wilson () used MCC to examine two co‐occurring chronosequences in the Arctic, glacier forelands (kilometre scale) and sorted circles (metre scale; Makoto & Klaminder, ). Similar successional stages were found on both chronosequences, but those on the large‐scale glacier forelands were two to four centuries older, suggesting that dispersal limits the rate of vegetation development.…”

Section: Long‐term Dispersal Effects: Multiscale Chronosequence Compamentioning

confidence: 99%

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When and where does dispersal limitation matter in primary succession?

Makoto

Wilson

2018

Journal of Ecology

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Primary succession encompasses the earliest and most fundamental stages of community assembly. The relative contributions of plant dispersal and ecosystem development, the main drivers that control the rate of primary succession, remain largely unknown, in spite of their central roles in community organization in general. Understanding the contribution of dispersal is especially critical because it casts light on our ability to manage succession resulting from climate change or anthropogenic disturbance. Here, we review the literature in order to understand when and where dispersal limits primary succession. Studies from many systems (tropical, temperate, boreal, arctic, alpine, floodplain forest, desert, mines, volcanic eruption and glacier forelands) show that dispersal limitation occurs consistently in the early stages of primary succession, suggesting that this is a general pattern. On the other hand, we found strong biases in study sites towards the Northern Hemisphere, temperate regions, volcanic eruptions and glacier forelands, which suggests that there are risks in drawing general conclusions about the importance of dispersal for primary succession for other biomes. Little is known about the contribution of dispersal to the later stages of primary succession. We present a recently developed method, multiscale chronosequence comparison that compares rates of succession in similar systems at relatively small and large spatial scales. Rapid succession at small scales compared to large scales suggests that seed dispersal influences succession over time periods of centuries and also limits the development of ecosystem functions such as vegetation cover and soil carbon accumulation. Synthesis: Dispersal limitation likely matters not only in the early stages but also in the late stages of primary succession by controlling the rate at which new species arrive. Both the accumulation of comparable case studies and novel approaches, such as multiscale chronosequence comparisons and factorial experiments, in contrasting biomes, are necessary to clarify the generality or context dependency of the role of dispersal in future primary successions undergoing changing climate.

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“…For example, our understanding of succession is embedded in theories of modern community assembly and species coexistence (Chang & HilleRisLambers, 2016;HilleRisLambers, Adler, Harpole, Levine, & Mayfield, 2012;Pulsford, Lindenmayer, & Driscoll, 2014), and has direct relevance to studies of landscape ecology, ecosystem development, restoration ecology, and global change ecology (Meiners et al, 2014;Prach & Walker, 2011;Walker, Walker, & Hobbs, 2007;Walker & Wardle, 2014). In particular, successional studies provide insight into the community assembly mechanisms, including dispersal limitation (Makoto & Wilson, 2016;Tilman, 1993), species pool effects (Li et al, 2016), priority effects (Fukami, 2015), abiotic environmental filtering (Lebrija-Trejos, Perez-Garcia, Meave, Bongers, & Poorter, 2010;Lohbeck et al, 2014), stochastic processes (Marteinsdóttir, Svavarsdóttir, & Thórhallsdóttir, 2018;Norden et al, 2015), biotic interactions (e.g. competition, facilitation, herbivory; Connell & Slatyer, 1977;Huston & Smith, 1987;Tilman, 1993), and feedbacks (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological succession in a changing world

2019

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Ecological succession – how biological communities re‐assemble and change over time following natural or anthropogenic disturbance – has been studied since the birth of ecology, and the resulting theoretical framework underpins many aspects of the discipline. Recently, the mechanistic basis of classic succession theory has been advanced by studies of plant and microbial interactions, functional traits, and retrogressive stages of ecosystem development. This special issue brings together a series of papers that highlight these contemporary novel approaches and how our understanding of ecological succession has advanced. Four key themes emerge from the issue: (a) generalizations about succession, (b) the influence of dispersal and habitat size on successional trajectories, (c) changes in plant functional traits during succession, and (d) belowground community interactions during long term during ecosystem development. Synthesis. The articles in the special issue highlight novel perspectives on succession theory, revealing the importance of historical contingency, disturbance severity, dispersal limitation, functional traits, and belowground community processes in determining patterns of ecosystem development. Together, they reinforce the importance of ecological succession in understanding the response of plant and microbial communities to disturbance in a changing world.

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New Multicentury Evidence for Dispersal Limitation during Primary Succession

Cited by 16 publications

References 52 publications

Testing conceptual models of early plant succession across a disturbance gradient

Testing conceptual models of early plant succession across a disturbance gradient

When and where does dispersal limitation matter in primary succession?

Ecological succession in a changing world

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