Does complementarity in leaf phenology and inclination promote co‐existence in a species‐rich meadow? Evidence from functional groups

Abstract

Question Could tests of proportionality for functionally defined guilds provide a rapid means of revealing potential mechanisms of co‐existence in species‐rich meadow communities? Study site A species‐rich meadow in Slovenia. Methods Species presence/absence was recorded in 830 contiguous 0.2 m × 0.2 m quadrats arranged in a rectangular transect. Evidence for guild proportionality was assessed for guilds defined by (1) taxonomy, (2) growth form and (3) functional group defined by leaf inclination or leaf phenology. We also tested whether classifying the graminoid‐like forb Scorzenera villosa as a graminoid improved evidence for proportionality in taxonomic guilds. Results There was no evidence of guild proportionality for guilds defined by either taxonomy or growth form. There was significant proportionality for functional groups defined by leaf phenology and leaf inclination. Classifying S. villosa as a graminoid did not improve evidence for proportionality of taxonomic guilds. Conclusions Testing for proportionality in functionally defined guilds provides a rapid means for detecting potential mechanisms of co‐existence in species‐rich communities. We found evidence that species differing in strategy for spatial light capture (leaf inclination) and temporal resource use (phenology) were more likely to co‐exist than expected by chance. These findings may help to guide future experimental work attempting to confirm co‐existence mechanisms in meadow communities. This approach may prove useful in other poorly studied, species‐rich vegetation types.

Functional diversity of ground‐layer plant communities in old‐growth and managed northern hardwood forests

“…; Mason et al. ). RaoQ, on the other hand, is related both to functional richness and divergence, and this may have created some noise in our results.…”

“…Finally, functional divergence measures how far highly abundant species are from the centre of the functional space, and should increase when niche complementarity enhances species' relative abundances (Mouchet et al 2010;Mason et al 2013). We calculated two indices of functional divergence: F Div (Vill eger et al 2008) and RaoQ (Botta-Dukat 2005), although the latter was shown to also be related to functional richness (Mouchet et al 2010).…”

Extended leaf phenology in deciduous forest invaders: mechanisms of impact on native communities

“…Phenological differences between species may be an important mechanism of niche differentiation, avoiding exclusion between competing species (Chuine ; Mason et al. ). Furthermore, phenological patterns in plant growth influence ecosystem processes through alterations of nutrient uptake, decomposition, and primary production (Polgar & Primack ).…”

Human‐induced land degradation and biodiversity of Classical Karst landscape: On the example of enclosed karst depressions (dolines)

“…The greatest species richness in karst landscapes is found in dry karst grasslands (Batalha, Pipenbaher, Bakan, Kaligarič, & Škornik, ; Mason, Pipenbaher, Škornik, & Kaligarič, ), and this has also been determined for the Kras Plateau. The plateau is characterized by numerous dolines (over 14,000; mean land surface of 1,800 m 2 ), which experience environmental conditions different to those of the surrounding flat areas.…”