Using trait and phylogenetic diversity to evaluate the generality of the stress‐dominance hypothesis in eastern North American tree communities

Coyle, Jessica R.; Halliday, Fletcher W.; Lopez, Bianca; Palmquist, Kyle A.; Wilfahrt, Peter A.; Hurlbert, Allen H.

doi:10.1111/ecog.00473

Cited by 121 publications

(161 citation statements)

References 98 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

141

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Where environmental filters are alleviated, we found less phylogenetic clustering, thus confirming our initial hypothesis. These observations are consistent with the stress-dominance hypothesis (Swenson & Enquist 2009;Coyle et al 2014), when we assume ecological niches to be conserved within evolutionary lineages, so that phylogenetically more related species are ecologically more similar.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Environmental severity promotes phylogenetic clustering in campo rupestre vegetation

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The stress-dominance hypothesis postulates that the importance of competition in plant communities declines with increasing environmental stress while the importance of environmental filters increases. To test this hypothesis for campo rupestre vegetation, we analyzed phylogenetic diversity and community structure of angiosperm communities at two study sites within the Itacolomi State Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Plots representing more favorable habitats, such as those with a higher percentage of rocky outcrops that might permit the tapping of deeper water and nutrient resources as well as higher contents of clay and loam thereby increasing water and nutrient availability, show higher phylogenetic diversity and therefore lower phylogenetic clustering than plots with more sever habitats. This observation is consistent with the stress-dominance hypothesis if we assume ecological niches to be conserved within evolutionary niches. However, more comprehensive studies including tests for phylogenetic signal of ecological niches are necessary before generalizations for larger regions may be carried out.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Environmental severity promotes phylogenetic clustering in campo rupestre vegetation

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While this pattern was independent of species region of origin and leaf type, the trade-off patterns were different for angiosperms and gymnosperms. This has also been shown to be the phylogenetic line of division in other stress tolerance studies (Stahl et al 2013;Coyle et al 2014; but see Hallik et al 2009). Dormancy enables angiosperms to respond more successfully to additional stress factors besides shade and drought; however, gymnosperms, which have lower polytolerance, can tolerate shade and drought more easily when other environmental factors are favourable (Pivovaroff et al 2014;Laanisto and Niinemets 2015).…”

Section: Shade Tolerance and Community Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 56%

Shedding light on shade: ecological perspectives of understorey plant life

Valladares

Laanisto

Niinemets

et al. 2016

Plant Ecology & Diversity

208

174

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Shade, in ecological sense, is not merely a lack of light, but a multi-faceted phenomenon that creates new and complex settings for community and ecosystem dynamics. Tolerating shade therefore affects plants' ability to cope with other stressors, and also shape its interactions with surrounding organisms. The aim of this broad review was to map our current knowledge about how shade affects plants, plant communities and ecosystems -to gather together knowledge of what we know, but also to point out what we do not yet know. This review covers the following topics: the nature of shade, and ecological and physiological complexities related to growing under a canopy; plants' capability of tolerating other stress factors while living under a shade -resource trade-offs and polytolerance of abiotic stress; ontogenetic effects of shade tolerance; coexistence patterns under the canopy -how shade determines the forest structure and diversity; shade-induced abiotic dynamics in understorey vegetation, including changing patterns of irradiance, temperature and humidity under the canopy; shade-driven plant-plant and plant-animal interactions -how shade mediates facilitation and stress, and how it creates differentiated environment for different herbivores and pollinators, including the role of volatile organic compounds. We also discuss the ways how vegetation in understorey environments will be affected by climate change, as shade might play a significant role in mitigating negative effects of climate change. Our review shows that living under a shade affects biotic and abiotic stress tolerance of plants, it also influences the outcomes of both symbiotic and competitive plant-plant and plant-animal interactions in a complex and dynamic manner. The current knowledge of shade-related mechanisms is rather ample, however there is much room for progress in integrating different implications of the multifaceted nature of shade into consistent and integral understanding how communities and ecosystems function.

show abstract

“…Using these newer diversity metrics, many studies of tropical forest communities have shown that trait convergence is more prevalent in stressful environments and that topography and soil fertility can act as strong selective forces during community assembly [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Similar studies have been conducted in temperate forests, but they are fewer and the results seem to show less consistent support for SDH and PTH [10,[20][21][22][23][24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The Physiological Tolerance Hypothesis (PTH) posits that mild climatic conditions (warm and wet) will support an assemblage of species with a wider array of physiological characteristics than a harsher climate (cold and/or dry) where selection pressures will filter out species unsuited for the habitat [9]. The Stress-Dominance Hypothesis (SDH) similarly proposes that community composition varies across environmental gradients (specifically moisture and nutrient availability) such that stressful (resource-poor) environments have a filtering effect, but also suggests that greater diversity of life history strategies in resource-rich habitats is the result of competitive interactions selecting for divergence in trait syndromes that reduce interspecific competition among species present [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Environmental Filtering in Structuring Appalachian Tree Communities: Topographic Influences on Functional Diversity Are Mediated through Soil Characteristics

Chapman

McEwan

2018

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Identifying the drivers of community assembly has long been a central goal in ecology, and the development of functional diversity indices has provided a new way of detecting the influence of environmental gradients on biotic communities. For an old-growth Appalachian forest, we used path analysis to understand how patterns of tree functional diversity relate to topography and soil gradients and to determine whether topographic effects are mediated through soil chemistry. All of our path models supported the idea of environmental filtering: stressful areas (high elevation, low soil moisture, low soil nutrients) were occupied by communities of low functional diversity, which suggests a selective effect for species with traits adapted to such harsh conditions. The effects of topography (slope, aspect, elevation) on functional diversity were often indirect and moderated through soil moisture and fertility. Soil moisture was a key component of our models and was featured consistently in each one, having either strong direct effects on functional diversity or indirect effects via soil fertility. Our results provide a comprehensive view of the interplay among functional trait assemblages, topography, and edaphic conditions and contribute to the baseline understanding of the role of environmental filtering in temperate forest community assembly.

show abstract

Using trait and phylogenetic diversity to evaluate the generality of the stress‐dominance hypothesis in eastern North American tree communities

Cited by 121 publications

References 98 publications

Environmental severity promotes phylogenetic clustering in campo rupestre vegetation

Environmental severity promotes phylogenetic clustering in campo rupestre vegetation

Shedding light on shade: ecological perspectives of understorey plant life

The Role of Environmental Filtering in Structuring Appalachian Tree Communities: Topographic Influences on Functional Diversity Are Mediated through Soil Characteristics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About