Understory plant diversity is related to higher variability of vegetative mobility of coexisting species

Moora, Mari; Öpik, Maarja; Zobel, Kristjan; Zobel, Martin

doi:10.1007/s00442-008-1209-5

Cited by 27 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The results of some previous empirical studies have suggested that a trade-off in resource allocation between clonal spread (colonization ability) and individual ramet size (ramet-level competitive ability) could serve as a mechanism by which species coexistence could be achieved (Wildová et al 2007;Moora et al 2009). The ability of weaker competitors to rapidly exploit unoccupied, resource-rich habitat patches could also promote species coexistence, but this mechanism has been largely overlooked or confounded with colonization ability in previous studies (Pacala and Rees 1998;Bolker and Pacala 1999;Amarasekare 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

To compete or not to compete: an experimental study of interactions between plant species with contrasting root behaviour

2010

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Game-theoretic models predict that plants with root systems that avoid belowground competition will be displaced by plants that overproduce roots in substrate shared with competitors. Despite this, both types of root response to neighbours have been documented. We used two co-occurring clonal species (Glechoma hederacea and Fragaria vesca) with contrasting root responses to neighbours (avoidance of competition and contesting of resources, respectively) to examine whether functional variation in other traits affected the success of each rooting strategy, leading to a different outcome from that predicted on the basis of root behaviour alone. Vegetative propagation rates, morphology and biomass allocation patterns were examined when each species was challenged with competition from physically separate ramets with either the same rooting strategy (intraclonal competition) or the contrasting rooting strategy (interspecific competition). Contrary to the predictions of game-theoretic models, the species that exhibits avoidance of root competition (Glechoma) was not competitively inferior to the species that does not (Fragaria). Glechoma achieved greater total mass in the interspecific treatment than in the intraclonal treatment. However, Fragaria did not experience more intense competition from Glechoma than it did in the intraclonal treatment. Strong interference between the two species appeared to be avoided because Glechoma invested preferentially in rapid exploitation of unoccupied space, whereas Fragaria invested in increasing the competitive ability and local persistence of established ramets. Our results suggest that interspecific trade-offs between traits related to competitive ability and resource exploitation can allow coexistence of species with contrasting rooting behaviours. Full assessment of the adaptive value of different root responses to neighbours therefore requires concurrent consideration of the combined effects of a wide array of functional traits.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

To compete or not to compete: an experimental study of interactions between plant species with contrasting root behaviour

2010

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“…We found that older stages of forest regeneration were characterized by more clonal species with longer spacers, short-lived connections (splitting clones), and small below-ground bud banks, confirming our second hypothesis (H2). The percentage of explained variance by each axis is shown forest herb layer (Moola and Vasseur 2004;Godefroid et al 2005;Moora et al 2009). Furthermore, the contribution of weedy and invasive species is negligible in the mountainous landscape of the Apennines (Bartha et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Clonal Growth Modes Along a Chronosequence of Post-Coppice Forest Regeneration in Beech Forests of Central Italy

et al. 2010

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Forest coppicing leads to changes in composition of the herbaceous understory through soil disturbance and alteration of the light regime. While the role of seed dispersal traits at the start of succession after coppicing has been extensively studied, the role of persistence traits such as clonal growth and bud banks is not yet sufficiently understood. To gain better understanding of this role, we studied the patterns of clonal growth organs and related clonal traits of species in a series of coppiced beech forests of the Central Apennines (Marches region, Italy) in various stages of recovery after the last coppicing event. We conducted stratified random sampling and established a chronosequence of recovery stages based on stand age (reflecting the number of years since the last coppicing). The beech stands Folia Geobot (2011) 46:271-288 were classified into three age groups (Post-logged, Recovering, and Old-coppice stands) according to the characteristic stages of beech coppice dynamics. Clonal growth organs and the corresponding clonal traits of plants in the forest understory vegetation were assessed with the help of a CLO-PLA1 database. We found no significant change in the proportion of clonal species along the studied chronosequence. In contrast, most of the traits and about the half of the clonal growth organs showed correlation with stand age or preference for a certain habitat (i.e., stage of regeneration). Clonal and bud bank traits proved to play an important role in the persistence of species subjected to forest coppicing cycles in the studied area.

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“…For plants, this spatial movement occurs through vegetative growth or seed dispersal (here we use ''seed'' as a general term for a reproductive dispersing unit). While vegetative spread plays a great role in small-scale patterns of species distribution (Moora et al 2009), seed dispersal is a process that shapes local populations and communities as well as large-scale distribution of species (Levin et al 2003.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting species' maximum dispersal distances from simple plant traits

Tamme

Götzenberger

Zobel

et al. 2014

Ecology

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Abstract. Many studies have shown plant species' dispersal distances to be strongly related to life-history traits, but how well different traits can predict dispersal distances is not yet known. We used cross-validation techniques and a global data set (576 plant species) to measure the predictive power of simple plant traits to estimate species' maximum dispersal distances. Including dispersal syndrome (wind, animal, ant, ballistic, and no special syndrome), growth form (tree, shrub, herb), seed mass, seed release height, and terminal velocity in different combinations as explanatory variables we constructed models to explain variation in measured maximum dispersal distances and evaluated their power to predict maximum dispersal distances. Predictions are more accurate, but also limited to a particular set of species, if data on more specific traits, such as terminal velocity, are available. The best model (R 2 ¼ 0.60) included dispersal syndrome, growth form, and terminal velocity as fixed effects. Reasonable predictions of maximum dispersal distance (R 2 ¼ 0.53) are also possible when using only the simplest and most commonly measured traits; dispersal syndrome and growth form together with species taxonomy data. We provide a function (dispeRsal) to be run in the software package R. This enables researchers to estimate maximum dispersal distances with confidence intervals for plant species using measured traits as predictors. Easily obtainable trait data, such as dispersal syndrome (inferred from seed morphology) and growth form, enable predictions to be made for a large number of species.

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Understory plant diversity is related to higher variability of vegetative mobility of coexisting species

Cited by 27 publications

References 46 publications

To compete or not to compete: an experimental study of interactions between plant species with contrasting root behaviour

To compete or not to compete: an experimental study of interactions between plant species with contrasting root behaviour

Patterns of Clonal Growth Modes Along a Chronosequence of Post-Coppice Forest Regeneration in Beech Forests of Central Italy

Predicting species' maximum dispersal distances from simple plant traits

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