The Balance between Positive and Negative Plant Interactions and Its Relationship to Environmental Gradients: A Model

Brooker, Rob W.; Callaghan, Terry V.

doi:10.2307/3546481

Cited by 587 publications

(591 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Moreover, the previous study on alpine neighboring plant species suggested that competition interaction generally, but not exclusively, dominated at lower elevations, and facilitation interactions among plants were predominant at high elevations, which was due to the different degree of physically stressful conditions [20]. As the results in this work, some new evidences were developed from a molecular methodological insight regarding the hypothesis that the relative importance of facilitation and competition varies inversely along gradients of abiotic stress [52]. Overall, facilitation rather than competition may play a more predominant role in the earlier stages of BSCs phototroph communities under harsher conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Shifting Species Interaction in Soil Microbial Community and Its Influence on Ecosystem Functions Modulating

Colica

et al. 2013

Microb Ecol

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The supportive and negative evidence for the stress gradient hypothesis (SGH) led to an ongoing debate among ecologists and called for new empirical and theoretical work. In this study, we took various biological soil crust (BSCs) samples along a spatial gradient with four environmental stress levels to examine the fitness of SGH in microbial interactions and evaluate its influence on biodiversity-function relationships in BSCs. A new assessment method of species interactions within hard-cultured invisible soil community was employed, directly based on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis fingerprint images. The results showed that biotic interactions in soil phototroph community dramatically shifted from facilitation to dominant competition with the improvement of microhabitats. It offered new evidence, which presented a different perspective on the hypothesis that the relative importance of facilitation and competition varies inversely along the gradient of abiotic stress. The path analysis indicated that influence of biotic interactions (r=0.19, p< 0.05) on ecosystem functions is lower than other community properties (r=0.62, p<0.001), including soil moisture, crust coverage, and biodiversity. Furthermore, the correlation between species interactions and community properties was non-significant with low negative influence (r=−0.27, p> 0.05). We demonstrate that the inversion of biotic interaction as a response to the gradient of abiotic stresses existed not only in the visible plant community but also in the soil microbial community.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Shifting Species Interaction in Soil Microbial Community and Its Influence on Ecosystem Functions Modulating

Colica

et al. 2013

Microb Ecol

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“…hermaphroditum at higher altitude sites under harsh conditions (as predicted by the stress-gradient hypothesis; (Bertness and Callaway 1994;Brooker and Callaghan 1998). Alternatively, the relationship does not necessarily represent direct facilitation between E. hermaphroditum and lichens, but indirect effect of E. hermaphroditum outcompeting vascular plant species, thus creating habitat patches more suitable for lichens due to less intense competition for light and space from taller vascular species.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Contrasting effects of biotic interactions on richness and distribution of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens in an arctic–alpine landscape

et al. 2015

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Biotic interactions may strongly affect the distribution of individual species and the resulting patterns of species richness. However, the impacts can vary depending on the species or taxa examined, suggesting that the influences of interactions on species distributions and diversity are not always straightforward and can be taxon-contingent. The aim of this study was therefore to examine how the importance of biotic interactions varies within a community. We incorporated three biotic predictors (cover of the dominant vascular species) into two correlative species richness modelling frameworks to predict spatial variation in the number of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens in arctic-alpine Fennoscandia, in N Europe. In addition, predictions based on single-species distribution models were used to determine the nature of the impact (negative vs. positive outcome) of the three dominant species on individual vascular plant, bryophyte and lichen species. Our results suggest that biotic variables can be as important as abiotic variables, but their relative contributions in explaining the richness of sub-dominant species varies among dominant species, species group and the modelling framework implemented. Similarly, the impacts of biotic interactions on individual species varied among the three species groups and dominant species, with the observed patterns partly reflecting species' biogeographic range. Our study provides additional support for the importance of biotic interactions in modifying arctic-alpine biodiversity patterns, and highlights that the impacts of interactions are not constant across taxa or biotic drivers. The influence of biotic interactions, including the taxon-contingency and range-based impacts, should therefore be accounted for when developing biodiversity forecasts.

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“…It has been suggested that the nature of interactions may shift from positive, under environmentally stressful conditions, to neutral, and eventually become negative with decreasing stresses (Bertness & Callaway 1994, Callaway & Walker 1997, Brooker & Callaghan 1998. Indeed, some previous studies have indicated such shifts on different spatial scales (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variable modes of facilitation in the upper intertidal: goose barnacles and mussels

Kawai¹,

Tokeshi²

2004

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Two sessile filter-feeders of similar body sizes, the goose barnacle Capitulum mitella and mussel Septifer virgatus, occur in patches on a moderately wave-exposed rocky shore of south Japan in the western Pacific. Their pattern of coexistence was investigated through field observations and experimental manipulation, focusing in particular on seasonally variable modes of facilitation under harsh environmental conditions found in the upper intertidal. Field observations and reciprocalremoval experiments showed a high survivorship of C. mitella in both mixed patches (containing C. mitella and S. virgatus) and Capitulum-only patches. In contrast, S. virgatus exhibited a substantially higher survivorship in the mixed than in single situations, indicating that S. virgatus was positively affected by the presence of C. mitella, while the latter was not influenced by the presence of the former in the upper intertidal. An artificial patch transplant experiment demonstrated that C. mitella enhanced S. virgatus survivorship and growth both in summer when thermal stress was severe and in winter when physical disturbance caused by wave action was strong. In contrast, the artificial shade treatment enhanced S. virgatus survivorship only in summer. In summer, thermal conditions (temperature and interstitial humidity within patches) were harsher in the unshaded (S. virgatus-only) than in the mixed (C. mitella + S. virgatus) and shaded treatments (S. virgatus with artificial shade). In contrast, the effect of severe physical condition as evidenced by the extent of shell wear in mussels was more pronounced in the shaded and unshaded treatments than in the mixed treatment in winter. These results suggest that C. mitella had 2 different habitat-modifying functions: (1) amelioration of thermal stress and (2) amelioration of physical stress; the artificial shade performed only the first of these.

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The Balance between Positive and Negative Plant Interactions and Its Relationship to Environmental Gradients: A Model

Cited by 587 publications

References 46 publications

Shifting Species Interaction in Soil Microbial Community and Its Influence on Ecosystem Functions Modulating

Shifting Species Interaction in Soil Microbial Community and Its Influence on Ecosystem Functions Modulating

Contrasting effects of biotic interactions on richness and distribution of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens in an arctic–alpine landscape

Variable modes of facilitation in the upper intertidal: goose barnacles and mussels

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