Trait plasticity in species interactions: a driving force of community dynamics

Abstract

Evolutionary community ecology is an emerging field of study that includes evolutionary principles such as individual trait variation and plasticity of traits to provide a more mechanistic insight as to how species diversity is maintained and community processes are shaped across time and space. In this review we explore phenotypic plasticity in functional traits and its consequences at the community level. We argue that resource requirement and resource uptake are plastic traits that can alter fundamental and realised niches of species in the community if environmental conditions change. We conceptually add to niche models by including phenotypic plasticity in traits involved in resource allocation under stress. Two qualitative predictions that we derive are: (1) plasticity in resource requirement induced by availability of resources enlarges the fundamental niche of species and causes a reduction of vacant niches for other species and (2) plasticity in the proportional resource uptake results in expansion of the realized niche, causing a reduction in the possibility for coexistence with other species. We illustrate these predictions with data on the competitive impact of invasive species. Furthermore, we review the quickly increasing number of empirical studies on evolutionary community ecology and demonstrate the impact of phenotypic plasticity on community composition. Among others, we give examples that show that differences in the level of phenotypic plasticity can disrupt species interactions when environmental conditions change, due to effects on realized niches. Finally, we indicate several promising directions for future phenotypic plasticity research in a community context. We need an integrative, trait-based approach that has its roots in community and evolutionary ecology in order to face fast changing environmental conditions such as global warming and urbanization that pose ecological as well as evolutionary challenges.

Evolutionary community ecology of plant‐associated arthropods in terrestrial ecosystems

“…Thus, plant genetics and induced plant responses are not independent. The induced plant response is one form of phenotypic plasticity, where an identical genotype can express different phenotypes depending on the biotic and abiotic environments (Agrawal 2001;Fordyce 2006;Berg and Ellers 2010). Phenotypic plasticity has received much attention from evolutionary biologists, and the involvement of genetic variation in phenotypic plasticity is formulated as a genotype-by-environment interaction (Via and Lande 1985;Sultan and Bazzaz 1993;de Jong 1995;Van Kleunen and Fischer 2005).…”

“…Evolutionary community ecology is a more comprehensive phrase, representing the emerging research field that aim to synthesize community ecology and evolutionary biology. Evolutionary community ecology incorporates evolutionary principles, such as individual trait variation, to provide mechanistic insights into how ecological communities are organized across space and time (Berg and Ellers 2010;Ellers 2010;Lavergne et al 2010). Evolutionary community ecology addresses how intra-and interspecific trait variation of the community member(s) is essential for predicting community properties (i.e., species composition, richness, abundance, and interactions), and how community properties are a key component of the selective forces that determine genetic and phenotypic variation at the individual level.…”

Using plant functional traits to guide restoration: A case study in California coastal grassland

“…Highly plastic species might be better able to take advantage of a wide range of conditions (Funk 2008, Berg and Ellers 2010, da Silveira Pontes et al 2010. For example, though a species might have low SLA under ambient conditions, it could respond to mowing by producing leaves with a higher SLA, thereby achieving a more appropriate phenotype for the local environmental conditions.…”

“…Such a species might obtain higher than expected abundances in mowed plots by virtue of its plastic responses. Though such responses are theoretically well-grounded and potentially important, they have rarely been investigated empirically (Berg andEllers 2010, da Silveira Pontes et al 2010).…”

A trait-based approach to crop–weed interactions

“…75 To understand how plant--plant (e.g. crop--weed) interactions control the dynamics of 76 communities over space and time, intra--specific shifts in trait values need to be studied 77 (Berg & Ellers 2010). There is evidence that trait variation can result from species 78 interactions within plant communities (Valladares et al 2006).…”