Do Species with Large Capitula Suffer Higher Rates of Predispersal Seed Loss than Species with Small Capitula? A Field Survey of 34 Asteraceae Species in an Alpine Meadow

Zhang, Yunshu; Yang, Yangheshan; Xi, Xinqiang; Niklas, Karl J.; Sun, Shucun

doi:10.1086/698766

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…We have shown that the common plant species, with higher biomass and seed availability, tend to have more predator species (higher species degree) and interact with more often with both specialist and generalist seed predators (higher species asymmetry); two characteristics that contribute to the increase in species’ overall high seed loss rate in the common plants. Given that all of the study species suffered significant seed loss and that predispersal seed predators constitute a significant selective pressure on plant species (Xi et al 2016, Zhang et al 2018), our results suggest that interaction asymmetry could potentially serve to facilitate the seed survival of rare species (as a rare‐species advantage), thereby promoting species coexistence when both common and rare species are present. Although common plants could indirectly increase attack rates on rare species via apparent competition, the rare‐species advantage could reduce the net competitive effect of common species on rare ones, and thereby facilitate coexistence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…It is not surprising to find an overall positive across‐species relationship between aboveground plant biomass and both infestation rate and overall seed loss rate, considering our finding of a chain of relationships between these variables; that is, aboveground plant biomass was positively associated with the number of seed predator species, which in turn was positively associated with infestation rate. Indeed, an independent investigation in 2017 also showed that overall seed loss rate among species increases with increasing plant dominance (Zhang et al 2018). These results clearly indicate that predispersal seed predators suppressed the seed survival of the common species more than that of the rare species, showing a rare‐species advantage or a community compensatory trend (Connell et al 1984).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to determine the pairwise relationship between plants and seed predators, we randomly harvested flowerheads for each host plant species (see Appendix S1: Table S1) that was known to be potentially infested by seed predators prior to this study (Zhang et al 2018). The harvest was conducted in the late growing season of 2016, in a 500 9 500 m winter-grazing plot, where plant coverage was >90% and the host plant species accounted for more than 70% of the plant biomass.…”

Section: Plant and Seed-predator Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Asymmetric interactions of seed‐predation network contribute to rare‐species advantage

Xi¹,

Yang²,

Tylianakis

et al. 2020

Ecology

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Although the asymmetry of species linkage within ecological networks is now well recognized, its effect on communities has scarcely been empirically investigated. Based on theory, we predicted that an asymmetric architecture of antagonistic plant–herbivore networks would emerge at the community level and that this asymmetry would negatively affect community‐common plants more than rare ones. We tested this prediction by analyzing the architectural properties of an alpine plant and pre‐dispersal seed‐predator network and its effect on seed loss rate of plants in the Tibetan Plateau. This network showed an asymmetric architecture, where the common plant species (with a larger aboveground biomass per area) were infested by a higher number of predator species. Moreover, they asymmetrically interacted with specialized herbivores, presumably because of greater seed resource abundance. In turn, the asymmetric interactions led to a higher proportion of seed loss in the common plants at the species level. Our results suggest that asymmetric antagonistic networks may improve species coexistence by contributing to a mechanism of rare‐species advantage.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plant and Seed-predator Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Asymmetric interactions of seed‐predation network contribute to rare‐species advantage

Xi¹,

Yang²,

Tylianakis

et al. 2020

Ecology

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“…(13) These plants possess significant amounts of phenolic acids, as well as flavonoids, tannins and fatty acids, as such compounds are widely distributed in the plant kingdom, especially this family . (11) which are distinguished by their effective properties as antioxidants, as the plant components are the most displacement of the roots. This has been confirmed in many studies.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antioxidant Activity and Phytominerals Study of Some Asteraceae Species Growth in Western of Lraq

2021

IJFMT

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The antioxidant efficacy of aqueous extracts of twelve plants of the Asteraceae family, which is from natural flora, was investigated by the method of scavenging free radicals of the compound Diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) namely Aster subulatus, Calendula officinalis, Carduus pycnocephalus, Carthamus Oxantea, and Carthamus Oxantea. linearis, Launaea nudicaulis, Sonchus maritimus and Sonchus oleraceus, this activity is compared to an inhibition ratio (IC50) half of the maximum inhibitor concentration of 50 of the standard ascorbic acid (vitamin C) antioxidant. the most effective of which was Carhamus oxyacantha, which reached 68.430% and Centaurea pallescens 66.432%, and the lowest effectiveness in, Launaea nudicaulis was 40.430% and Koelpinia linearis was 43.816%. The mineral elements were analyzed in the aerial part of plants : (K, Na, , Mg, Ca, and P) using Atomic absorption (Spectrophotometer apparatus 5000 (Atomic)the results showed that plants contain very good ratios of elements as the best plant in terms of content was Carduus pycnocephalus and Carthamus oxykontha.

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“…Tephritid flies are the most diverse species group of pre‐dispersal seed predators, accounting for >90% seed loss in Asteraceae species (Zhang, Yang, Xi, Niklas, & Sun, ). Female tephritid flies oviposit on plant capitula before flowering, and fly larvae then grow up within the capitula consuming developing seeds.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental reduction of plant abundance changes interaction frequency of a tri‐trophic micro‐food web: contrasting responses of generalists and specialists

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2019

Journal of Ecology

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Species abundance is vulnerable to climate change and anthropogenic impact. Although numerous studies have examined the food web response to species loss, their response (e.g. in network topology and interaction frequency) to changes in species abundance has received little attention. We experimentally reduced the abundance (by c. 60%) of one host plant species (Saussurea nigrescens) in a tri‐trophic micro‐food web consisting of two common Asteraceae species (S. nigrescens and Anaphalis flavescens), their pre‐dispersal seed predators (tephritid flies) and the parasitoid wasps that feed on these seed predators. The neutral process hypothesis posits that network topology and interaction frequency are determined by the relative abundances of the participating species. Accordingly, we hypothesized that interaction frequency (indicated by the rate of flies infesting plants and of parasitoid wasps parasitizing flies) would decrease with decreasing abundance of host plant abundance. Consistent with the neutral process hypothesis, abundance reduction significantly decreased the rate of generalist flies infesting the manipulated plant host species, but increased the rate on unmanipulated plant species. In contrast, abundance reduction significantly increased the rate of specialist flies infesting the manipulated species, but it had no demonstrable effect on the specialists on the unmanipulated plant host. Moreover, abundance reduction significantly increased the rate of parasitoid wasps (as a species group) parasitizing flies in the manipulated species, but decreased the rate of the unmanipulated species. These results were not attributable to neutral processes, but can be explained by adaptive foraging theory. In addition, experimental manipulation did not shift the qualitative presence–absence of the linkages in the micro‐food web, and the change in the abundance of both fly and wasp species was smaller than the abundance changes of the manipulated plant species. Synthesis. Our results indicate that both neutral processes and/or adaptive foraging likely contributed to food web stability in responses to changes in species abundance. Because species abundance is vulnerable to abiotic and biotic environmental changes, we suggest more research should be conducted to understand how food webs respond to climate change and anthropogenic disturbance.

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Do Species with Large Capitula Suffer Higher Rates of Predispersal Seed Loss than Species with Small Capitula? A Field Survey of 34 Asteraceae Species in an Alpine Meadow

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Asymmetric interactions of seed‐predation network contribute to rare‐species advantage

Asymmetric interactions of seed‐predation network contribute to rare‐species advantage

Antioxidant Activity and Phytominerals Study of Some Asteraceae Species Growth in Western of Lraq

Experimental reduction of plant abundance changes interaction frequency of a tri‐trophic micro‐food web: contrasting responses of generalists and specialists

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