Patterns and mechanisms of conspecific and heterospecific interactions in a dry perennial grassland
dc.contributor.author | Farrer, Emily C. | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | Goldberg, Deborah E. | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2011-01-31T17:44:26Z | |
dc.date.available | 2012-03-05T15:30:01Z | en_US |
dc.date.issued | 2011-01 | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Farrer, Emily C.; Goldberg, Deborah E.; (2011). "Patterns and mechanisms of conspecific and heterospecific interactions in a dry perennial grassland." Journal of Ecology 99(1): 265-276. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/79241> | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 0022-0477 | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 1365-2745 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/79241 | |
dc.description.abstract | 1. Models of local stable coexistence require negative feedbacks, i.e. intraspecific interactions must be more negative than interspecific interactions. However, most competition experiments, often done in the glasshouse, have found evidence for competitive hierarchies. Measurement of interactions under realistic field conditions is necessary to assess their contribution to community dynamics, and explicit measurement of intermediaries thought to be important in interactions may allow studies to account for any variation in experimental results. 2. In this study, we compare conspecific and heterospecific interactions in a field experiment in a dry sand prairie in Michigan. We study the four dominant species at two different stages, germination and adult growth. Using seed addition and adult transplant experiments, we ask whether plants perform best in natural field monocultures of conspecifics, heterospecifics or no neighbour plots. We also measure abiotic environmental characteristics associated with each neighbourhood type and test whether performance can be explained by environmental effects. We hypothesize that plants will create competitive hierarchies because our experimental design is similar to classic competition experiments. 3. Neighbour species created consistent hierarchies in their effects on germination of all four target species, which is likely due to light limitation. However, interestingly, adult plant biomass for two of the three species (one species did not survive) was lower in conspecific monocultures compared to heterospecific or no neighbour plots, thus producing negative feedbacks. For two species, the effects of neighbours on adult growth are likely due to reduction of light and soil nitrate; for the third, however, resources could not explain the pattern that conspecific interactions were more negative than heterospecific. 4. Synthesis. These results suggest that patterns in the relative strength of conspecific and heterospecific competition depend on life-history stage. Moreover, resource uptake could explain some, but not all, of the interactions among species, suggesting that other factors such as microbial communities or other forms of niche partitioning may play a role and that field experiments are necessary to gauge their relative importance. | en_US |
dc.format.extent | 503089 bytes | |
dc.format.extent | 3106 bytes | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.format.mimetype | text/plain | |
dc.publisher | Blackwell Publishing Ltd | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Coexistence | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Competition | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Competitive Hierarchy | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Facilitation | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Germination | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Intraspecific vs. Interspecific Interactions | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Plant-soil Feedbacks | en_US |
dc.title | Patterns and mechanisms of conspecific and heterospecific interactions in a dry perennial grassland | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
dc.rights.robots | IndexNoFollow | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Science | en_US |
dc.description.peerreviewed | Peer Reviewed | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79241/1/j.1365-2745.2010.01734.x.pdf | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2010.01734.x | en_US |
dc.identifier.source | Journal of Ecology | en_US |
dc.owningcollname | Interdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed |
Files in this item
Remediation of Harmful Language
The University of Michigan Library aims to describe library materials in a way that respects the people and communities who create, use, and are represented in our collections. Report harmful or offensive language in catalog records, finding aids, or elsewhere in our collections anonymously through our metadata feedback form. More information at Remediation of Harmful Language.
Accessibility
If you are unable to use this file in its current format, please select the Contact Us link and we can modify it to make it more accessible to you.