Functional species pool framework to test for biotic effects on community assembly

Ecology - Tập 93 Số 10 - Trang 2263-2273 - 2012
Francesco de Bello1, Jodi N. Price2, Tamara Münkemüller3, Jaan Liira4, Martin Zobel4, Wilfried Thuiller3, Pille Gerhold4, Lars Götzenberger4, Sébastien Lavergne3, Jan Lepš5, Kristjan Zobel4, Meelis Pärtel4
1Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences Dukelská 135 37982 Třeboň Czech Republic
2Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai 40, 51005 Tartu, Estonia
3Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, UMR CNRS 5553, Université Joseph Fourier, BP 53 2233 Rue de la Piscine, 38041 Grenoble, Cedex 9, France
4Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia–Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of Czech Academy of Science, Na Zlaté stoce 1 and Branišovská 31 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
5Department of Experimental Plant Ecology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Tóm tắt

Functional trait differences among species are increasingly used to infer the effects of biotic and abiotic processes on species coexistence. Commonly, the trait diversity observed within communities is compared to patterns simulated in randomly generated communities based on sampling within a region. The resulting patterns of trait convergence and divergence are assumed to reveal abiotic and biotic processes, respectively. However, biotic processes such as competition can produce both trait divergence and convergence, through either excluding similar species (niche differences, divergence) or excluding dissimilar species (weaker competitor exclusion, convergence). Hence, separating biotic and abiotic processes that can produce identical patterns of trait diversity, or even patterns that neutralize each other, is not feasible with previous methods. We propose an operational framework in which the functional trait dissimilarity within communities (FDcomm) is compared to the corresponding trait dissimilarity expected from the species pool (i.e., functional species pool diversity, FDpool). FDpool includes the set of potential species for a site delimited by the operating environmental and dispersal limitation filters. By applying these filters, the resulting pattern of trait diversity is consistent with biotic processes, i.e., trait divergence (FDcomm > FDpool) indicates niche differentiation, while trait convergence (FDcomm < FDpool) indicates weaker competitor exclusion. To illustrate this framework, with its potential application and constraints, we analyzed both simulated and field data. The functional species pool framework more consistently detected the simulated trait diversity patterns than previous approaches. In the field, using data from plant communities of typical Northern European habitats in Estonia, we found that both niche‐based and weaker competitor exclusion influenced community assembly, depending on the traits and community considered. In both simulated and field data, we demonstrated that only by estimating the species pool of a site is it possible to differentiate the patterns of trait dissimilarity produced by operating biotic processes. The framework, which can be applied with both functional and phylogenetic diversity, enables a reinterpretation of community assembly processes. Solving the challenge of defining an appropriate reference species pool for a site can provide a better understanding of community assembly.

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Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Ecology

Tập 93 Số 10

2263-2273

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