Abiotic heterogeneity underlies trait‐based competition and assembly

Borges, Isabela L.; Forsyth, Leila Z.; Start, Denon; Gilbert, Benjamin

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13082

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Decoupling these influences allows us to isolate the pollinator- and Polanisia dodecandra, a small-stature species producing many small, inconspicuous white flowers. The phenotypic and phylogenetic dissimilarity between our study species is similar to that observed in communities at our field site (Borges, Forsyth, Start, & Gilbert, 2019), suggesting that interactions among our study species may resemble that of interactions between co-occurring species in natural communities. These species have broad overlap in the pollinators that visit them but differ in pollinator specialization; Chamaecrista is a buzz-pollinated species that requires larger bees for successful outcross pollination (Fenster, 1991), whereas Polanisia is a generalist species that is effectively pollinated by a wide diversity of insect pollinators (Higuera-Diaz, Manson, & Hail, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Second, the differences in flower and inflorescence phenotype of these two species increased the likelihood that pollinators would view these as distinct species, as flower colour, form and height of presentation differ. This mix of distinct flower phenotypes is typical of fragments at the field site, which frequently contain multiple orders of flowering plants including Fabales, Asterales, Lamiales and Brassicales(Borges et al, 2019).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Population‐ and community‐level rarity have opposing effects on pollinator visitation and seed set

Brown

Gilbert

2020

Journal of Ecology

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When can small, isolated populations overcome the negative consequences of rarity? Despite considerable effort to understand threats to rare species, few studies consider how community context alters these threats. Plant–pollinator interactions offer the opportunity to test the effect of community context on rare species success, as plant–pollinator dynamics are thought to be influenced by neighbouring plants, both through competition for pollinators (reducing success in small populations) and attraction of potential pollinators (increasing success in small populations). Here, we test these predictions by experimentally decoupling community‐level rarity (relative abundance) from population‐level rarity (population size) in experimental two‐species fragments. We created experimental plant communities varying independently in population rarity (population size) and community rarity (relative abundance) of two annual plant species. We isolated plant roots to eliminate resource competition. We then compared the effects of population size versus relative abundance on pollinator visitation rates and an estimate of seed production. Both species had greatest pollinator visitation in large populations, but the negative effects of population rarity on visitation were partially offset when the neighbouring species was more abundant—community rarity offset the impacts of population rarity for the most common group of pollinators, solitary bees. These visitation trends impacted seed production for one species. When at low relative abundance, Polanisia dodecandra had higher seed set, matching increased visitation by solitary bees. Chamaecrista fasciculata showed no change in seed production with population‐ or community‐level rarity. Synthesis. Our results suggest that the surrounding community can offset the negative effects of low absolute abundance on fitness when neighbouring species are more abundant, and may ultimately maintain diversity even in fragmented ecological communities.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

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confidence: 99%

Population‐ and community‐level rarity have opposing effects on pollinator visitation and seed set

Brown

Gilbert

2020

Journal of Ecology

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“…increased functional diversity), with plants showing higher functional differentiation than expected by chance at scales smaller than 0.01 m 2 . Similarly, research at our study site has shown how functional dispersion may be maintained over smaller subsets by non‐random survival of species with distinct traits (Borges et al., 2019). In contrast, similar research in a saltmarsh found little empirical support for fine‐scale trait dispersion (Wilson & Stubbs, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Specifically, we established replicated communities in an 8,700 m 2 area at the Koffler Scientific Reserve in New Market, Ontario in 2012. Surrounding fields largely contain old‐field species that dispersed freely into our patches (see Borges et al., 2019; , for further detail on set‐up and trait measurements). The area was maintained as a mowed field for horse riding for over 25 years before the experiment.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel responses of species diversity and functional diversity to changes in patch size are driven by distinct processes

Forsyth

Gilbert

2020

Journal of Ecology

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Do species and functional trait diversity respond similarly to deterministic and random processes? Theory predicts that the contributions of random and deterministic processes to species diversity depend on patch size. Smaller patches are more strongly influenced by random sampling effects, by having fewer individuals, as well as ecological drift, which propagates the effects of small samples through stochastic birth and death processes. These random processes decrease species richness and increase compositional differences among small patches. Larger patches are predicted to be more deterministically assembled, with greater species richness and greater predictability of composition for a particular environment. The consequences of patch size for the diversity of functional traits, however, are poorly understood. Species diversity may be a poor proxy for functional diversity due to trait redundancies among species, making it unclear how random and deterministic processes alter functional diversity within patches of differing size, and how these differences scale up to determine among‐patch functional diversity. We report a novel experimental study of species and functional diversity across spatial scales. We manipulated patch area in an experimental plant metacommunity and used a nested sampling design to distinguish the effects of deterministic processes, ecological drift and sampling effects on species and functional trait diversity. Our study revealed a pervasive influence of ecological drift and sampling effects on diversity, with distinct influences on functional traits and species composition within and among patches. Overall, drift and sampling effects caused a two‐ to threefold decrease in the importance of deterministic processes in small fragments. Species and functional diversity showed similar patterns with patch size; larger patches had greater within‐patch (alpha) diversity and lower among‐patch (beta) diversity, consistent with theory. However, our nested sampling design revealed that sampling effects (i.e. the size of the sample area) largely determined alpha species diversity and beta functional diversity, while ecological drift had a stronger influence on alpha functional diversity and beta species diversity. Synthesis. The compositions of species and functional diversity in a community are influenced by distinct processes, resulting in divergent spatial scaling of species and their traits within patches and across landscapes.

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“…Few studies to date have access to this vast amount of data because of extensive fieldwork that it entails, but databases are being compiled to make this type of data more available (Knevel et al 2003;Kattge et al 2011;Salguero-Gómez et al 2015;Klimešová et al 2017). Current research incorporating these types of data has used a variety of statistical methods, including both frequentist and Bayesian mixed models and path analysis, or simulations when empirical data are absent (Marks and Lechowicz 2006;Clark et al 2007;Clark 2010;Martínez-Vilalta et al 2010;Blonder et al 2018;Laughlin et al 2018;Borges et al 2019).…”

Section: Nothing Makes Sense Without Some Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Reframing of Trait–Demographic Rate Analyses for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Swenson

Worthy

Eubanks

et al. 2020

International Journal of Plant Sciences

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The relationship between plant functional traits and demographic performance forms the foundation of traitbased ecology. It also serves as the natural linkage between trait-based ecology and much of evolutionary biology. Despite these important aspects, plant trait-demographic performance relationships reported in the literature are typically weak or nonexistent, and a synthetic picture of how traits are related to ecological and evolutionary patterns remains underdeveloped. Here, we begin by presenting an overview of the shortcomings in functional trait-demographic performance research and why weak results are more common than trait-based ecologists like to admit. We then discuss why there should be a natural synthesis between trait-based ecology and evolutionary ecology and potential reasons for why this synthesis has yet to emerge. Finally, we present a series of conceptual and empirical foci that should be incorporated into future trait-demographic performance research that will hopefully solidify the foundation of trait-based ecology and catalyze a synthesis with evolutionary ecology. These include (1) focusing on individuals as the fundamental unit of study instead of relying on population or species mean values for traits and demographic rates; (2) placing more emphasis on phenotypic integration, alternative designs, and performance landscapes; (3) coming to terms with the importance of regional-and local-scale context on plant performance; (4) an appreciation of the varied drivers of life-stage transitions and what aspects of function should be linked to those transitions; and (5) determining how the drivers of plant mortality act independently and in concert and what aspects of plant function best predict these outcomes. Our goal is to help highlight the shortcomings of trait-demographic performance research as it stands and areas where this research could course correct, ultimately, with the hope of promoting a trait-based research program that speaks to both ecologists and evolutionary biologists.

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Abiotic heterogeneity underlies trait‐based competition and assembly

Cited by 7 publications

References 60 publications

Population‐ and community‐level rarity have opposing effects on pollinator visitation and seed set

Population‐ and community‐level rarity have opposing effects on pollinator visitation and seed set

Parallel responses of species diversity and functional diversity to changes in patch size are driven by distinct processes

A Reframing of Trait–Demographic Rate Analyses for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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