Explaining hydrological niches: The decisive role of below-ground competition in two closely related Senecio species

Journal of Ecology

Volumn 98, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 126-136

  Bartelheimer, Maik ^a   Gowing, David ^b   Silvertown, Jonathan ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF REGENSBURG   (Germany)

^b OPEN UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Drought stress; Fence sitters; Gradient; Hypoxia; Interspecific competition; Mesocosm; Niche differentiation; Phleum pratense; Senecio aquaticus; Senecio jacobaea

Indexed keywords

COMMUNITY STRUCTURE; DICOTYLEDON; GRASS; HYPOXIA; INTERSPECIFIC COMPETITION; MEADOW; MESOCOSM; NICHE PARTITIONING; NITROGEN; PHYTOMASS; PLANT COMMUNITY; SEED PRODUCTION; WATER LEVEL; WATERLOGGING;

PHLEUM PRATENSE; SENECIO; SENECIO AQUATICUS; SENECIO JACOBAEA;

EID: 72249102431     PISSN: 00220477     EISSN: 13652745     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01598.x     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. Albrecht, G., Biemelt, S. Baumgartner, S. (1997) Accumulation of fructans following oxygen deficiency stress in related plant species with different flooding tolerances. New Phytologist, 136, 137 144. (Pubitemid 28012352)
2. Araya, Y.N. (2005) Influence of soil water regime on nitrogen availability and plant competition in wet meadows. PhD Thesis, The Open University, Milton Keynes.
3. Barber, K.R., Leeds-Harrison, P.B., Lawson, C.S. Gowing, D.J.G. (2004) Soil aeration status in a lowland wet grassland. Hydrological Processes, 18, 329 341.
4. Barnes, P.W. (1985) Adaptation to water stress in the Big Bluestem-Sand Bluestem complex. Ecology, 66, 1908 1920.
5. Bartelheimer, M., Steinlein, T. Beyschlag, W. (2006) Aggregative root placement: a feature during interspecific competition in inland sand-dune habitats. Plant and Soil, 280, 101 114.
6. Bartelheimer, M., Steinlein, T. Beyschlag, W. (2008) 15N-nitrate- labelling demonstrates a size symmetric competitive effect on belowground resource uptake. Plant Ecology, 199, 243 253.
7. Bertness, M.D. (1991) Zonation of Spartina patens and Spartina alternifolia in a New England salt marsh. Ecology, 72, 138 148.
8. Bertrand, A., Castonguay, Y., Nadeau, P., Laberge, S., Rochette, P., Michaud, R., Belanger, G. Benmoussa, M. (2001) Molecular and biochemical responses of perennial forage crops to oxygen deprivation at low temperature. Plant, Cell and Environment, 24, 1085 1093.
9. Biemelt, S., Albrecht, G. Wiedenroth, E.-M. (1996) The effect of post-hypoxia on roots in Senecio and Myosotis species related to the glutathione system. Folia Geobotanica, 31, 65 72.
10. Blom, C.W.P.M. Voesenek, L.A.C.J. (1996) Flooding: the survival strategies of plants. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 11, 290 295.
11. Brooker, R.W. Kikvidze, Z. (2008) Importance: an overlooked concept in plant interaction research. Journal of Ecology, 96, 703 708.
12. Cahill, J.F., Jr., Castelli, J.P. Casper, B.B. (2002) Separate effects of human visitation and touch on plant growth and herbivory in an old-field community. American Journal of Botany, 89, 1401 1409.
13. Casper, B.B. Jackson, R.B. (1997) Plant competition underground. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 28, 545 570.
14. Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. Moore, D.M. (1987) Flora of the British Isles. University Press, Cambridge.
15. Connell, J.H. (1980) Diversity and the coevolution of competitors, or the ghost of competition past. Oikos, 35, 131 138.
16. Crawford, R.M.M. (1989) The anaerobic retreat. Studies in Plant Survival; Ecological Case Histories of Plant Adaptation to Adversity (eds D.J. Anderson, P. Greig-Smith F.A. Pitelka pp. 105 129. Blackwell Scientific Publishing, Oxford, London, Edinburgh, Boston, Melbourne.
17. Davidson, E.A. Howarth, R.W. (2007) Nutrients in synergy. Nature, 449, 1000 1001.
18. Dierschke, H. (1994) Pflanzensoziologie - Grundlagen und Methoden. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart.
19. Ellenberg, H. (1953) Physiologisches und ökologisches Verhalten derselben Pflanzenarten. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft, 65, 350 361.
20. Ellenberg, H. (1958) Bodenreaktion (einschließlich Kalkfrage). Handbuch der Pflanzenphysiologie (ed. H. von Ruhland pp. 638 708. Verlag Springer, Berlin, Göttingen, Heidelberg.
21. Ellenberg, H. (1996) Vegetation Mitteleuropas mit den Alpen in ökologischer, dynamischer und historischer Sicht. Ulmer, Stuttgart.
22. Elser, J.J., Bracken, M.E.S., Cleland, E.E., Gruner, D.S., Harpole, W.S., Hillebrand, H., Ngai, J.T., Seabloom, E.W., Shurin, J.B. Smith, J.E. (2007) Global analysis of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation of primary producers in freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystemes. Ecology Letters, 10, 1135 1142.
23. 4 bunchgrass. Oecologia, 143, 598 606.
24. Fynn, R.W.S., Morris, C.D. Kirkman, K.P. (2005) Plant strategies and trait-offs influence trends in competitive ability along gradients of soil fertility and disturbance. Journal of Ecology, 93, 384 394.
25. Goldberg, D.E. (1990) Components of resource competition in plant communities. Perspectives on Plant Competition (eds J.B. Grace D. Tilman pp. 27 49. Academic Press, San Diego, London.
26. Goldberg, D.E., Rajaniemi, T., Gurevitch, J. Stewart-Oaten, A. (1999) Empirical approaches to quantifying interaction intensity: competition and facilitation along productivity gradients. Ecology, 80, 1118 1131.
27. Grime, J.P. (1973) Competitive exclusion in herbaceous vegetation. Nature, 242, 344 347.
28. Hoffmann, G. (1991) Methodenbuch - Die Untersuchung von Böden. VDLUFA-Verlag, Darmstadt.
29. Justin, S.H.F.W. Armstrong, W. (1987) The anatomical characteristics of roots and plant response to soil flooding. New Phytologist, 106, 465 495.
30. Keddy, P.A., Gaudet, C. Fraser, L.H. (2000) Effects of low and high nutrients on the competitive hierachy of 26 shoreline plants. Journal of Ecology, 88, 413 423.
31. Keddy, P.A., Nielsen, K., Weiher, E. Lawson, R. (2002) Relative competitive performance of 63 species of terrestrial herbaceous plants. Journal of Vegetation Science, 13, 5 16.
32. Kirk, H., Vrieling, K. Klinkhamer, P.G.L. (2005) Maternal effects and heterosis influence the fitness of plant hybrids. New Phytologist, 166, 685 694.
33. Lamb, E.G., Kembel, S.W. Cahill, J.F., Jr. (2009) Shoot, but not root, competition reduces community diversity in experimental mesocosms. Journal of Ecology, 97, 155 163.
34. Lawlor, D.W. Cornic, G. (2002) Photosynthetic carbon assimilation and associated metabolism in relation to water deficits in higher plants. Plant, Cell and Environment, 25, 275 294.
35. von Liebig, J. (1840) Die organische Chemie in ihrer Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie. Vieweg-Verlag, Braunschweig.
36. Maina, G.M., Brown, J.S. Gersani, M. (2002) Intra-plant versus Inter-plant root competition in beans: avoidance, resource matching or tragedy of the commons. Plant Ecology, 160, 235 247.
37. Marschner, H. (1997) Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. Academic Press, London.
38. McConnaughay, K.D.M. Bazzaz, F.A. (1992) The occupation and fragmentation of space: consequences of neighbouring roots. Functional Ecology, 6, 704 710.
39. McGraw, J.B. Chapin, F.S., III. (1989) Competitive ability and adaptation to fertile and infertile soils in two Eriophorum species. Ecology, 70, 736 749.
40. Mueller-Dombois, D. Ellenberg, H. (1974) Aims and Methods of Vegetation Ecology. John Wiley and sons, New York, London, Sydney, Toronto.
41. Mullan Crain, C., Silliman, B.R., Bertness, S.L. Bertness, M.D. (2004) Physical and biotic drivers of plant distribution across estuarine salinity gradients. Ecology, 85, 2539 2549.
42. Neeteson, J.J. (1990) Development of nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for arable crops in the Netherlands in relation to nitrate leaching. Fertilizer Research, 26, 291 298.
43. O'Brien, E.E., Gersani, M. Brown, J.S. (2005) Root proliferation and seed yield in response to spatial heterogeneity of below-ground competition. New Phytologist, 168, 401 412.
44. Pennings, S.C. Callaway, R.M. (1992) Salt marsh plant zonation: the relative importance of competition and physical factors. Ecology, 73, 681 690.
45. Pickett, S.T.A. Bazzaz, F.A. (1978) Organization of an assemblage of early successional species on a soil moisture gradient. Ecology, 59, 1248 1255.
46. Schenk, H.J. (2004) Vertical vegetation structure below ground: scaling from root to globe. Progress in Botany, 66, 341 373.
47. Schenk, H.J. Jackson, R.B. (2002) The global biogeography of roots. Ecological Monographs, 72, 311 328.
48. Silvertown, J. (2004) Plant coexistence and the niche. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 19, 605 611.
49. Silvertown, J., Dodd, M.E. Gowing, D.J.G. (2005) Phylogeny and the niche structure of meadow plant communities. Journal of Ecology, 89, 428 435.
50. Silvertown, J., Dodd, M.E., Gowing, D.J.G. Mountford, J.O. (1999) Hydrologically defined niches reveal a basis for species richness in plant communities. Nature, 400, 61 63.
51. Sleutel, S., Moeskops, B., Huybrechts, W., Vandenbossche, A., Salomez, J., De Bolle, S., Buchan, D. De Neve, S. (2008) Modelling soil moisture effects on net nitrogen mineralization in loamy wetland soils. Wetlands, 28, 724 734.
52. Smirnoff, N. Crawford, R.M.M. (1983) Variations in the structure and response to flooding of root aerenchyma in some wetland plants. Annals of Botany, 51, 237 249.
53. Snow, M.D. Tingey, D.T. (1985) Evaluation of a system for the imposition of plant water stress. Plant Physiology, 77, 602 607.
54. Tilman, D. (1982) Resource Competition and Community Structure. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
55. Tilman, D. (1988) Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
56. Turkington, R., Klein, E. Chanway, C.P. (1993) Interactive effects of nutrients and disturbance: an experimental test of plant strategy theory. Ecology, 74, 863 878.
57. Webb, D.A. Scannell, M.J.P. (1983) Flora of Connemara and the Burren. Royal Dublin Society and Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
58. Weiner, J. (1986) How competition for light and nutrients affects size variability in Ipomoea tricolor populations. Ecology, 67, 1425 1427.
59. Youngs, E.G., Leeds-Harrison, P.B. Chapman, J.M. (1989) Modelling water-table movement in flat low-lying lands. Hydrological Processes, 3, 301 315.