Do intrinsically dominant and subordinate species exist? A test statistic for field data

Olff, Han; Bakker, Jan P.

doi:10.2307/1479081

Cited by 24 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Dominant species occurred on all the islands and had high cumulative relative abundances (i.e. >12%, as proposed by Mariotte 2014), while subordinate species had lower (<12%) cumulative relative abundances and occurred on fewer islands (see Olff & Bakker 1998).…”

Section: S P E C I E S a B U N D A N C E A N D E N V I R O N M E N T mentioning

confidence: 61%

Linkage of plant trait space to successional age and species richness in boreal forest understorey vegetation

et al. 2015

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Summary Determining the changes in within‐ and between‐species functional diversity in plant communities, and their contribution to overall species trait overlap, can enhance efforts at understanding mechanisms of species coexistence. However, little is known about how variation in species functional diversity influences variation in species trait overlap among contrasting environments. Here, we studied the understorey vegetation in a well‐characterized 5000‐year‐old chronosequence involving 30 forested islands that differ greatly in size, soil fertility and species diversity. Across this chronosequence, we expected consistent changes in both within‐ and between‐species functional diversity that would lead to decreasing overall species trait overlap with increasing successional age, species richness, understorey vegetation density and spatial heterogeneity of soil resources. For each island, we measured specific leaf area (SLA) of each of ten individuals of each plant species present. Using a variance decomposition method, we partitioned the total community functional diversity of SLA on each island into within‐ and between‐species functional diversity. Further, we estimated overall species trait overlap as the ratio of within‐species functional diversity to total functional diversity. Using regression analyses, we then explored relationships of within‐ and between‐species functional diversity, and of overall species trait overlap, with several environmental variables across the 30 islands. Consistent with our hypotheses, overall species trait overlap decreased with successional age due to a statistically significant decrease in within‐species functional diversity, and decreased with species richness due to a simultaneous decrease in within‐species functional diversity and increase in between‐species functional diversity. Against our predictions, overall species trait overlap increased in more competitive environments and did not change with increasing spatial heterogeneity of soil N or P. Synthesis. Our study suggests niche packing as a key mechanism for species coexistence in plant communities. Using SLA as an integrator of plant ecological strategy, we show that community successional age and species richness are significantly linked to trait space distribution of plant individuals of boreal forest understorey vegetation and therefore to local species coexistence. Our results also suggest that the trait space of dominant and subordinate species may respond differently to local environmental variables.

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Section: S P E C I E S a B U N D A N C E A N D E N V I R O N M E N T mentioning

confidence: 61%

Linkage of plant trait space to successional age and species richness in boreal forest understorey vegetation

et al. 2015

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“…Dominant species occurred on all the islands and had high cumulative relative abundances (i.e. >12%, as proposed in Mariotte 2014), while subordinates/rare species had lower (<12%) cumulative relative abundances and occurred on fewer islands (see Olff & Bakker 1998). We then estimated the community average trait values of both groups on each island.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Plant assemblages do not respond homogenously to local variation in environmental conditions: functional responses differ with species identity and abundance

Kumordzi

Wardle

Freschet

2014

J Vegetation Science

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Questions We investigated some commonly held assumptions of community assembly theory needed to provide accurate predictions of changes in plant species assemblages across environmental gradients or following environmental change. Do (1) dominant and subordinate species respond in the same way to changes in environmental variables; (2) plant species assemblages show higher interspecific than intraspecific trait responses; and (3) co‐existing dominant species differ in their responses to the same environmental variables? Location Islands in Lakes Uddjaure and Hornavan, northern Sweden. Methods We explored the responses of forest understorey vegetation assemblages to variation in environmental resources across a chronosequence of 30 lake islands that differ in fire history, above‐ground and below‐ground resource availability and species diversity. For one plot on each island, we measured specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content and foliar N and P of all dominant and subordinate understorey plant species to assess species‐specific and weighted and non‐weighted community‐level trait responses to variation across islands in all major local environmental drivers. Results Consistent with our expectations, we found that species responses to environmental conditions were not homogenous within assemblages, and that responses of dominant and subordinate species differed. Further, intraspecific variation was often an important component of local‐scale plant community‐level responses. Responses were often relatively consistent across species, but dominant species sometimes showed contrasting responses of the same trait to the same environmental factor. Finally, environmental factors that influenced community average trait values also affected functional diversity. Conclusions This study has shown that several common assumptions that underpin community assembly theory do not necessarily hold, and this can cause inaccuracies in predicting plant functional composition responses to changes in environmental variables. Because these assumptions are central to current models that predict vegetation responses to environmental change, it is crucial to further test in which particular environmental context and to what extent these assumptions are critical for model accuracy.

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“…Accordingly, for defining species of very restricted and very widespread range, we did not use the terms 'core' and 'satellite' species that are generally related to the U-shaped distribution typical of Hanski's (1982) CSS model. Instead, out of the many possible names (see Olff & Bakker, 1998), we used the more neutral terms 'rare' and 'common' species.…”

Section: Definition Of Rare and Common Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Common species have lower taxonomic diversity Evidence from the urban floras of Brussels and Rome

Ricotta

Godefroid

Celesti‐Grapow

2008

Diversity and Distributions

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The species pool hypothesis claims that the large‐scale regional species pool is the chief parameter in determining small‐scale species richness through filtering of species that can persist within a community on the basis of their tolerance of the abiotic environment. Accordingly, different environmental conditions give rise to different species assemblages. From a taxonomic perspective, under the assumption of trait conservatism, co‐occurring species that experience similar environmental conditions are likely to be more taxonomically similar than ecologically distant species. The next step consists in understanding how commonness and rarity of individual species produce the observed taxonomic diversity. In this paper, the importance of environmental filtering in regulating the taxonomic structure of rare and common plant species in the urban floras of Brussels (Belgium) and Rome (Italy) is tested. First, we computed the taxonomic diversity of the rare and common species of Brussels and Rome based on the branching topology of the Linnaean taxonomic trees. Next, using a randomization procedure, we determined whether the taxonomic diversity of the rare species was significantly higher than the diversity of the common species. Results show that, for both urban floras, common species that shape the community matrix and experience similar environmental conditions have a taxonomic diversity that is significantly lower than that of the rare species that represent a relatively incidental set of species of more ‘disperse’ origin. Finally, from a conservation/management perspective our results imply that, given their high taxonomic heterogeneity, the protection of rare species is a central issue for preserving high levels of diversity in urban areas.

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Do intrinsically dominant and subordinate species exist? A test statistic for field data

Cited by 24 publications

References 33 publications

Linkage of plant trait space to successional age and species richness in boreal forest understorey vegetation

Linkage of plant trait space to successional age and species richness in boreal forest understorey vegetation

Plant assemblages do not respond homogenously to local variation in environmental conditions: functional responses differ with species identity and abundance

Common species have lower taxonomic diversity Evidence from the urban floras of Brussels and Rome

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