Species-specific traits plus stabilizing processes best explain coexistence in biodiverse fire-prone plant communities

J. Groeneveld; N.J. Enright; B.B. Lamont; B. Reineking; K. Frank; G. Perry

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065084

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Species-specific traits plus stabilizing processes best explain coexistence in biodiverse fire-prone plant communities

Journal article

Open access

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Species-specific traits plus stabilizing processes best explain coexistence in biodiverse fire-prone plant communities

J. Groeneveld, N.J. Enright, B.B. Lamont, B. Reineking, K. Frank and G. Perry

PLoS ONE, Vol.8(5), e65084

2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065084

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Abstract

Coexistence in fire-prone Mediterranean-type shrublands has been explored in the past using both neutral and niche-based models. However, distinct differences between plant functional types (PFTs), such as fire-killed vs resprouting responses to fire, and the relative similarity of species within a PFT, suggest that coexistence models might benefit from combining both neutral and niche-based (stabilizing) approaches. We developed a multispecies metacommunity model where species are grouped into two PFTs (fire-killed vs resprouting) to investigate the roles of neutral and stabilizing processes on species richness and rank-abundance distributions. Our results show that species richness can be maintained in two ways: i) strictly neutral species within each PFT, or ii) species within PFTs differing in key demographic properties, provided that additional stabilizing processes, such as negative density regulation, also operate. However, only simulations including stabilizing processes resulted in structurally realistic rank-abundance distributions over plausible time scales. This result underscores the importance of including both key species traits and stabilizing (niche) processes in explaining species coexistence and community structure.

Details

Title: Species-specific traits plus stabilizing processes best explain coexistence in biodiverse fire-prone plant communities
Authors/Creators: J. Groeneveld (Author/Creator) - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
N.J. Enright (Author/Creator) - Curtin University
B.B. Lamont (Author/Creator) - Curtin University
B. Reineking (Author/Creator) - University of Bayreuth
K. Frank (Author/Creator) - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
G. Perry (Author/Creator)
Publication Details: PLoS ONE, Vol.8(5), e65084
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Identifiers: 991005544980107891
Copyright: © 2013 Groeneveld et al.
Murdoch Affiliation: School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Note: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.40 Forestry; 3.40.86 Plant Communities
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology