Competition analysis using neighborhood models: implications for plant community assembly rules

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15451/ec2017-07-6.11-1-6

Keywords:

Competitive Ability, Niche Complementarity, Environmental Filtering, Coexistence Theory

Abstract

Contemporary studies in plant ecology have investigated the processes and patterns underlying plant community of structure and dynamics, mainly in tropical forests. In this context, the effects of competitive interactions between trees and their neighbors on tree growth and survival in plant communities have been addressed using neighborhood models. The purpose of these efforts has been to better understand the processes that drive patterns of species abundance, which has the potential to change our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors involved in ecosystem dynamics. Therefore, studies concerning the competitive mechanisms that explain neighborhood interactions of plants are the subject of this short review. Two main ecological theories have received strong support in this regard: 1) environmental filtering and 2) niche complementarity. These theories are mutually compatible and act simultaneously, however, their relative importance may change depending on resource availability, type of plant community and successional stage.

Author Biography

Sergio de Faria Lopes, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba

Departamento de Biologia

References

Bulleri F, Bruno J, Silliman BR and Stachowicz JJ (2016) Facilitation and the niche: implications for coexistence, range shifts, and ecosystem functioning. Functional Ecology 30:70–78. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12528

Canham CD, LePage PT and Dave Coates K (2004) A neighborhood analysis of canopy tree competition: effects of shading versus crowding. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34: 778–787. doi: 10.1139/X03-232. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/x03-232

Canham CD, Papaik MJ, Uriarte MA, Mcwilliams WH, Jenkins JC and Twery MJ (2006) Neighborhood analyses of canopy tree competition along environmental gradients in New England Forests. Ecological Applications 16(2), 540–554. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2006)016[0540:NAOCTC]2.0.CO;2

Cahill JF Jr, Kembel SW, Lamb EG and Keddy PA (2008) Does phylogenetic relatedness influence the strength of competition among vascular plants? Perspectives Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics 10, 41–50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2007.10.001

Chase JM and Leibold M (2003) Ecological Niches: Linking Classical and Contemporary Approaches. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226101811.001.0001

Chesson P (2000) Mechanisms of maintenance of species diversity. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.31.1.343

Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 31, 343–366.

Chi X, Tang Z, Xie Z, Guo Q, Zhang M, Ge J, Xiong G and Fang J (2015) Effects of size, neighbors, and site condition on tree growth in a subtropical evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest, China. Ecology and Evolution 1-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1665

Clark B and Bullock S (2007) Shedding light on plant competition: modelling the influence of plant morphology on light capture (and vice-versa). Journal of Theoretical Biology 244: 208–217. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2006.07.032

Hubbell SP (2001) The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press Princeton.

Hubbell SP, Ahumada JA, Condit R, Foster RB (2001) Local neighborhood effects on long-term survival of individual trees in a Neotropical forest. Ecological Restauration 16(5): 859–875. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1703.2001.00445.x

Kraft NJB, Valencia R and Ackerly DD (2008) Functional traits and niche based tree community assembly in an Amazonian forest. Science 322: 580–582. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1160662

Kraft NJB and Ackerly DD (2010) Functional trait and phylogenetic tests of community assembly across spatial scales in an Amazonian forest. Ecological Monographs 80: 401–422. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/09-1672.1

Kraft N, Adler P, Godoy O, James E, Fuller S and Levine JM (2015) Community assembly, coexistence, and the environmental fitering metaphor. Functional Ecology 29: 592-599. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12345

Kunstler G, Lavergne S, Courbaud B, Thuiller W, Vieilledent G, Zimmermann NE, Kattge J and Coomes DA (2012) Competitive interactions between forest trees are driven by species’ trait hierarchy, not phylogenetic or functional similarity: implications for forest community assembly. Ecological Letters 15: 831–840. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01803.x

Kunstler G et al. (2016) Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition. Nature 529: 204-207. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16476

Lasky JR, Uriarte M, Boukili VK and Chazdon RL (2014) Trait-mediated assembly processes predict successional changes in community diversity of tropical forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111: 5616–5621. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319342111

Lebrija-Trejos E, Wright SJ, Hernandez A and Reich PB (2014) Does relatedness matter? Phylogenetic density dependent survival of seedlings in a tropical forest. Ecology 95:940–951. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0623.1

Mayfield MM and Levine JM (2010) Opposing effects of competitive exclusion on the phylogenetic structure of communities: phylogeny and coexistence. Ecological Letters 13: 1085–1093. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01509.x

Metz MR, Sousa WP and Valencia R (2010) Widespread density-dependent seedling mortality promotes species coexistence in a highly diverse Amazonian rain forest. Ecology 91: 3675–3685. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/08-2323.1

Paine CET, Baraloto C, Chave J and Hérault B (2011) Functional traits of individual trees reveal ecological constraints on community assembly in tropical rain forests. Oikos 120: 720–727. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.19110.x

Paine CET, Norden N, Chave J, Forget PM, Fortunel C, Dexter KG

and Baraloto C (2012) Phylogenetic density dependence and environmental filtering predict seedling mortality in a tropical forest. Ecology Letters 15: 34–41 doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01705.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01705.x

Potvin C and Dutilleul P (2009) Neighborhood effects and size-asymmetric competition in a tree plantation varying in diversity. Ecology 90(2): 321-327. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/08-0353.1

Uriarte M, Condit R, Canham CD and Hubbell SP (2004) A spatially explicit model of sapling growth in a tropical forest: does the identity of neighbours matter? Journal of Ecology 92:348–360. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-0477.2004.00867.x

Uriarte M, Swenson NG, Chazdon RL, Comita LS, John Kress W,

Erickson D et al. (2010) Trait similarity, shared ancestry and the structure of neighbourhood interactions in a subtropical wet forest: implications for community assembly. Ecology Letters 13: 1503–1514. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01541.x

Wagner RG and Radosevich SR (1998) Neighborhood approach for quantifying interspecific competition in coastal Oregon forests. Ecological Applications 8:779–794. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(1998)008[0779:NAFQIC]2.0.CO;2

Weigelt A, Schumcher J, Walthers T, Bartelheimer M, Steinlein T and Beyschlag W (2007) Identifying mechanisms of competition in multi-species communities. Journal of Ecology 95:53–64. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01198.x

Downloads

Published

07/12/2017

How to Cite

Lopes, S. de F. (2017). Competition analysis using neighborhood models: implications for plant community assembly rules. Ethnobiology and Conservation, 6. https://doi.org/10.15451/ec2017-07-6.11-1-6

Issue

Section

Short Review

Most read articles by the same author(s)