Fine-scale spatial heterogeneity and incoming seed diversity additively determine plant establishment

Journal of Ecology

Volumn 100, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 939-949

  Richardson, Paul J ^a,b   Macdougall, Andrew S ^c   Larson, Douglas W ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO   (Canada)

^b The Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation   (Canada)

^c UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH   (Canada)

Author keywords

Biodiversity ecosystem function; Community assembly; Determinants of plant community diversity and structure; Facilitation; Heterogeneity; High stress environment; Niche differentiation; Quarry; Regeneration niche; Species sorting

Indexed keywords

ASSEMBLY RULE; BEDROCK; COMPLEMENTARITY; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION; ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS; FACILITATION; GREENHOUSE ECOSYSTEM; HERB; HETEROGENEITY; LIMESTONE; LITTER; MICROHABITAT; MOSS; NICHE; ORDINATION; PAVEMENT; PLANT COMMUNITY; POPULATION DENSITY; REGENERATION; SEEDLING ESTABLISHMENT; SOIL DEPTH; SPATIAL ANALYSIS; SPECIES DIVERSITY; SPECIES RICHNESS;

EID: 84862579861     PISSN: 00220477     EISSN: 13652745     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2011.01948.x     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Baer, S.G., Blair, J.M., Collins, S.L. & Knapp, A.K. (2004) Plant community responses to resource availability and heterogeneity during restoration. Oecologia, 139, 617-629.
2. Bell, T., Lilley Andrew, K., Hector, A., Schmid, B., King, L. & Newman Jonathan, A. (2009) A linear model method for biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments. The American Naturalist, 174, 836-849.
3. Benedetti-Cecchi, L. (2004) Increasing accuracy of causal inference in experimental analyses of biodiversity. Functional Ecology, 18, 761-768.
4. ter Braak, C.J.F. & Smilauer, P. (2002) CANOCO reference manual and CanoDraw for Windows user's guide: Software for Canonical Community Organization (Version 4.5). Microcomputer Power, Ithica, NY.
5. Brady, N.C. (1974) The Nature and Properties of Soils. Macmillan, New York.
6. Cardinale, B.J., Wright, J.P., Cadotte, M.W., Carroll, I.T., Hector, A., Srivastava, D.S., Loreau, M. & Weis, J.J. (2007) Impacts of plant diversity on biomass production increase through time because of species complementarity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104, 18123-18128.
7. Catling, P.M. (1995) The extent of confinement of vascular plants to alvars in southern Ontario. The Canadian Field Naturalist, 109, 172-181.
8. Day, K.J., Hutchings, M.J. & John, E.A. (2003) The effects of spatial pattern of nutrient supply on yield, structure and mortality in plant populations. Journal of Ecology, 91, 541-553.
9. Dufour, A., Gadallah, F., Wagner, H.H., Guisan, A. & Buttler, A. (2006) Plant species richness and environmental heterogeneity in a mountain landscape: effects of variability and spatial configuration. Ecography, 29, 573-584.
10. Fidanza, M.A., Sanford, D.L., Beyer, D.M. & Aurentz, D.J. (2010) Analysis of Fresh Mushroom Compost. Horttechnology, 20, 449-453.
11. Foster, B.L. & Tilman, D. (2003) Seed Limitation and the Regulation of Community Structure in Oak Savanna Grassland. Journal of Ecology, 91, 999-1007.
12. Foster, B.L., Dickson, T.L., Murphy, C.A., Karel, I.S. & Smith, V.H. (2004) Propagule Pools Mediate Community Assembly and Diversity-Ecosystem Regulation along a Grassland Productivity Gradient. Journal of Ecology, 92, 435-449.
13. Foster, B.L., Questad, E.J., Collins, C.D., Murphy, C.A., Dickson, T.L. & Smith, V.H. (2011) Seed availability constrains plant species sorting along a soil fertility gradient. Journal of Ecology, 99, 473-481.
14. García-Palacios, P., Maestre, F.T. & Gallardo, A. (2011) Soil nutrient heterogeneity modulates ecosystem responses to changes in the identity and richness of plant functional groups. Journal of Ecology, 99, 551-562.
15. Gigon, A. & Leutert, A. (1996) The Dynamic Keyhole-Key Model of Coexistence to Explain Diversity of Plants in Limestone and Other Grasslands. Journal of Vegetation Science, 7, 29-40.
16. Grime, J.P., Mackay, M.L., Hillier, S.H. & Read, D.J. (1987) Floristic diversity in a model system using experimental microcosms. Nature, 328, 420-422.
17. Grubb, P.J. (1977) The maintenance of species-richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration nich. Biological Review, 52, 107.
18. Gundale, M.J., Metlen, K.L., Fiedler, C.E. & DeLuca, T.H. (2006) Nitrogen spatial heterogeneity influences diversity following restoration in a Ponderosa Pine Forest, Montana. Ecological Applications, 16, 479-489.
19. Harper, J.L. (1961) Approaches to the study of plant competition. Mechanisms in Biological Competition (ed. F.L. Milthorpe ), pp. 1-39. Symposium 15 of the Society for Experimental Biology. Academic Press, New York.
20. Harper, J.L., Williams, J.T. & Sagar, G.R. (1965) The Behaviour of Seeds in Soil: I. The Heterogeneity of Soil surfaces and its Role in Determining the Establishment of Plants from Seed. Journal of Ecology, 53, 273-286.
21. Houseman, G.R. & Gross, K.L. (2011) Linking grassland plant diversity to species pools, sorting and plant traits. Journal of Ecology, 99, 464-472.
22. Hutchings, M.J., John, E.A. & Wijesinghe, D.K. (2003) Toward understanding the consequences of soil heterogeneity for plant populations and communities. Ecology, 84, 2322-2334.
23. Kahmen, A., Perner, J. & Buchmann, N. (2005) Diversity-dependent productivity in semi-natural grasslands following climate perturbations. Functional Ecology, 19, 594-601.
24. Larson, D.W., Mathes, U., Tomlinson, S. & Richardson, P. (2006) The Quarry To Alvar Initiative: Final report to the Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation. pp. 68. Burlington, ON.
25. Lundholm, J.T. (2010) Relative importance of available energy, environmental heterogeneity, and seed availability for seedling emergence on a limestone pavement. Botany-Botanique, 88, 1045-1056.
26. Lundholm, J.T. & Larson, D.W. (2003) Relationships between spatial environmental heterogeneity and plant species diversity on a limestone pavement. Ecography, 26, 715-722.
27. Maestre, F.T., Bradford, M.A. & Reynolds, J.F. (2006) Soil heterogeneity and community composition jointly influence grassland biomass. Journal of Vegetation Science, 17, 261-270.
28. Maestre, F.T. & Reynolds, J.F. (2006) Nutrient availability and atmospheric CO2 partial pressure modulate the effects of nutrient heterogeneity on the size structure of populations in grassland species. Annals of Botany, 98, 227-235.
29. Maestre, F.T. & Reynolds, J.F. (2007) Biomass responses to elevated CO2, soil heterogeneity and diversity: an experimental assessment with grassland assemblages. Oecologia, 151, 512-520.
30. Matthes, U., Richardson, P.J., Catton, S., Stabler, C.D. & Larson, D.W. (2009) The quarry-to-alvar initiative: creating new alvar habitat from abandoned limestone quarries. Canadian Reclamation, Fall/Winter 2009, 10-15.
31. Michalet, R., Brooker, R.W., Cavieres, L.A., Kikvidze, Z., Lortie, C.J., Pugnaire, F.I., Valiente-Banuet, A. & Callaway, R.M. (2006) Do biotic interactions shape both sides of the humped-back model of species richness in plant communities? Ecology Letters, 9, 767-773.
32. Mulder, C.P.H., Uliassi, D.D. & Doak, D.F. (2001) Physical stress and diversity-productivity relationships: the role of positive interactions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98, 6704-6708.
33. Myers, J.A. & Harms, K.E. (2009) Seed arrival, ecological filters, and plant species richness: a meta-analysis. Ecology Letters, 12, 1250-1260.
34. Naeem, S. (2002) Disentangling the impacts of diversity on ecosystem functioning in combinatorial experiments. Ecology, 83, 2925-2935.
35. Palmer, M.A., Ambrose, R.F. & Poff, N.L. (1997) Ecological Theory and Community Restoration Ecology. Restoration Ecology, 5, 291-300.
36. Pausas, J.G., Carreras, J., Ferre, A., Font, X. & Chiarucci, A. (2003) Coarse-scale plant species richness in relation to environmental heterogeneity. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14, 661-668.
37. Pavoine, S., Vela, E., Gachet, S., de Bélair, G. & Bonsall, M.B. (2011) Linking patterns in phylogeny, traits, abiotic variables and space: a novel approach to linking environmental filtering and plant community assembly. Journal of Ecology, 99, 165-175.
38. Questad, E.J. & Foster, B.L. (2008) Coexistence through spatio-temporal heterogeneity and species sorting in grassland plant communities. Ecology Letters, 11, 717-726.
39. Rees, M., Grubb, P.J. & Kelly, D. (1996) Quantifying the Impact of Competition and Spatial Heterogeneity on the Structure and Dynamics of a Four-Species Guild of Winter Annuals. The American Naturalist, 147, 1-32.
40. Rey Benayas, J.M., Scheiner, S.M. & Franklin, J. (2002) Plant diversity, biogeography and environment in Iberia: patterns and possible causal factors. Journal of Vegetation Science, 13, 245-258.
41. Reynolds, H.L., Mittelbach, G.G., Darcy-Hall, T.L., Houseman, G.R. & Gross, K.L. (2007) No effect of varying soil resource heterogeneity on plant species richness in a low fertility grassland. Journal of Ecology, 95, 723-733.
42. Richardson, P.J., Horrocks, J. & Larson, D.W. (2010) Drought resistance increases with species richness in restored populations and communities. Basic and Applied Ecology, 11, 204-215.
43. Richardson, P.J., Lundholm, J.T. & Larson, D.W. (2010) Natural analogues of degraded ecosystems enhance conservation and reconstruction in extreme environments. Ecological Applications, 20, 728-740.
44. Ricklefs, R.E. (1977) Environmental heterogeneity and plant species diversity: a hypothesis. The American Naturalist, 111, 376-381.
45. Schaefer, C.A. & Larson, D.W. (1997) Vegetation, Environmental Characteristics and Ideas on the Maintenance of Alvars on the Bruce Peninsula, Canada. Journal of Vegetation Science, 8, 797-810.
46. Stevens, M.H.H. & Carson, W.P. (2002) Resource quantity, not resource heterogeneity, maintains plant diversity. Ecology Letters, 5, 420-426.
47. Tilman, D. (1994) Competition and Biodiversity in Spatially Structured Habitats. Ecology, 75, 2-16.
48. Tilman, D., Reich, P.B. & Knops, J.M.H. (2006) Biodiversity and ecosystem stability in a decade-long grassland experiment. Nature, 441, 629-632.
49. Tomlinson, S., Matthes, U., Richardson, P. & Larson, D.W. (2008) The ecological equivalence of quarry floors to alvars. Applied Vegetation Science, 11, 73-82.
50. Turnbull, L.A., Crawley, M.J. & Rees, M. (2000) Are plant populations seed-limited? A review of seed sowing experiments Oikos, 88, 225-238.
51. Tylianakis, J.M., Rand, T.A., Kahmen, A., Klein, A.M., Buchmann, N., Perner, J. & Tscharntke, T. (2008) Resource heterogeneity moderates the biodiversity-function relationship in real world ecosystems. PLoS Biology, 6, 947-956.
52. Vivian-Smith, G. (1997) Microtopographic Heterogeneity and Floristic Diversity in Experimental Wetland Communities. The Journal of Ecology, 85, 71-82.
53. Wacker, L., Baudois, O., Eichenberger-Glinz, S. & Schmid, B. (2008) Environmental heterogeneity increases complementarity in experimental grassland communities. Basic and Applied Ecology, 9, 467-474.
54. Znamenskiy, S., Helm, A. & Partel, M. (2006) Threatened alvar grasslands in NW Russia and their relationship to alvars in Estonia. Biodiversity and Conservation, 15, 1797-1809.
55. Zobel, M., Otsus, M., Liira, J., Moora, M. & Möls, T. (2000) Is small-scale species richness limited by seed availability or microsite availability? Ecology, 81, 3274-3282.