Rethinking Community Assembly through the Lens of Coexistence Theory

HilleRisLambers, Janneke; Adler, Peter B.; Harpole, W. Stanley; Levine, Jonathan M.; Mayfield, Margaret M.

doi:10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110411-160411

Cited by 1,187 publications

(1,257 citation statements)

References 129 publications

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“…0.15), and did not influence how these variables responded to biogeographic history or phylogenetic distance. The presence of an effect would have indicated that certain environments cause species to overlap more or less in resource use (affecting stabilizing differences) or to have stronger or weaker competitive asymmetries (affecting fitness differences [37]). Instead, the varied responses observed across species pairs likely reflect species-specific differences in responses to soil moisture limitation [26]; in a dry environment, for example, some species pairs might experience more overlap in resource use, whereas others might experience less overlap.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species coexistence: macroevolutionary relationships and the contingency of historical interactions

2016

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Evolutionary biologists since Darwin have hypothesized that closely related species compete more intensely and are therefore less likely to coexist. However, recent theory posits that species diverge in two ways: either through the evolution of 'stabilizing differences' that promote coexistence by causing individuals to compete more strongly with conspecifics than individuals of other species, or through the evolution of 'fitness differences' that cause species to differ in competitive ability and lead to exclusion of the weaker competitor. We tested macroevolutionary patterns of divergence by competing pairs of annual plant species that differ in their phylogenetic relationships, and in whether they have historically occurred in the same region or different regions (sympatric versus allopatric occurrence). For sympatrically occurring species pairs, stabilizing differences rapidly increased with phylogenetic distance. However, fitness differences also increased with phylogenetic distance, resulting in coexistence outcomes that were unpredictable based on phylogenetic relationships. For allopatric species, stabilizing differences showed no trend with phylogenetic distance, whereas fitness differences increased, causing coexistence to become less likely among distant relatives. Our results illustrate the role of species' historical interactions in shaping how phylogenetic relationships structure competitive dynamics, and offer an explanation for the evolution of invasion potential of non-native species.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species coexistence: macroevolutionary relationships and the contingency of historical interactions

2016

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“…This mixed evidence has led to numerous critiques of the use of phylogeny as a proxy for the processes of community assembly (e.g., Mayfield and Levine 2010, Araya et al 2012, HilleRisLambers et al 2012, Pavoine et al 2013). …”

Section: Accepted Ar Ticlementioning

confidence: 99%

Forest tree neighborhoods are structured more by negative conspecific density dependence than by interactions among closely related species

et al. 2017

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Interactions among neighbors influence the structure of communities of sessile organisms. Closely related species tend to share habitat and resource requirements and to interact with the same mutualists and natural enemies so that the strength of interspecific interactions tends to decrease with evolutionary divergence time. Nevertheless, the degree to which such phylogenetically related ecological interactions structure plant communities remains unclear. Using data from five large mapped forest plots combined with a DNA barcode mega‐phylogeny, we employed an individual‐based approach to assess the collective effects of focal tree size on neighborhood phylogenetic relatedness. Abundance‐weighted average divergence time for all neighbors (ADT_all) and for heterospecific neighbors only (ADT_hetero) were calculated for each individual of canopy tree species. Within local neighborhoods, we found phylogenetic composition changed with focal tree size. Specifically, significant increases in ADT_all with focal tree size were evident at all sites. In contrast, there was no significant change in ADT_hetero with tree size in four of the five sites for both sapling‐sized and all neighbors, even at the smallest neighbourhood scale (0–5 m), suggesting a limited role for phylogeny‐dependent interactions. However, there were inverse relationships between focal tree size and the proportion of heterospecific neighbors belonging to closely related species at some sites, providing evidence for negative phylogenetic density dependence. Overall, our results indicate that negative interaction with conspecifics had a much greater impact on neighborhood assemblages than interactions among closely related species and could contribute to community structure and diversity maintenance in different forest communities.

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“…Although the former bases the dominance of species on their hierarchy of trait attributes (Kunstler et al 2012;Fort et al 2014), the latter bases species coexistence on the absolute difference between species trait attributes (MacArthur and Levins 1967). Related to these two processes, most recent theories define, respectively, two kind of traits for species coexistence: the ones that promote the difference in species fitness ("fitness difference trait") and the ones that promote the stabilization of niche differences and species coexistence ("niche difference trait") (Levine and HilleRisLambers 2009;Mayfield and Levine 2010;HilleRisLambers et al 2012).…”

Section: Scaling Up From Species Strategies To Species Abundancementioning

confidence: 99%

Grass strategies and grassland community responses to environmental drivers: a review

Pontes

Maire

Schellberg

et al. 2015

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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Grassland covers about one quarter of the Earth's land area and is currently estimated to contribute to the livelihoods of over 800 million people. Grassland provides ecosystem goods and services, mainly through the provisioning of milk and meat. Therefore, the proper use of grasslands will be essential for feeding the nine billion people that will inhabit planet Earth by 2050. In the context of a changing climate, we should better understand the interactions of environment, management and grass crop at individual, community and ecosystem levels. Functional ecology focuses on the roles and functions that species play in the community or ecosystem in which they occur. Functional ecology thus aims to understand how plant species adapt to environmental conditions and how management can alter this adaptation. Here, we review the latest advances in plant functional traits research and on species strategies to the main environmental factors occurring in grassland ecosystems: nutrient availability, grazing, cutting and shading. Functional ecology also provides a framework to better understand how species strategies interact with the species composition at the community level. Therefore, the literature on community assembling theories in relation to ecosystem processes most relevant to grassland management and services is also reviewed. Finally, future research questions and some new orientations for grassland experts are offered in order to meet the challenge of maintaining productivity and preservation of these semi-natural environments in the face of global change.

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Rethinking Community Assembly through the Lens of Coexistence Theory

Cited by 1,187 publications

References 129 publications

Species coexistence: macroevolutionary relationships and the contingency of historical interactions

Species coexistence: macroevolutionary relationships and the contingency of historical interactions

Forest tree neighborhoods are structured more by negative conspecific density dependence than by interactions among closely related species

Grass strategies and grassland community responses to environmental drivers: a review

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