Article
Multi‐scale environmental filters and niche partitioning govern the distributions of riparian vegetation guilds
Ecosphere
(2015)
Abstract
Across landscapes, riparian plant communities assemble under varying levels of disturbance, environmental stress, and resource availability, leading to the development of distinct riparian life‐history guilds over evolutionary timescales. Identifying the environmental filters that exert selective pressures on specific riparian vegetation guilds is a critical step in setting baseline expectations for how riparian vegetation may respond to environmental conditions anticipated under future global change scenarios. In this study, we ask: (1) What riparian plant guilds exist across the interior Columbia and upper Missouri River basins? (2) What environmental filters shape riparian guild distributions? (3) How does resource partitioning among guilds influence guild distributions and co‐occurrence? Woody species composition was measured at 703 stream reaches and each species' morphological and functional attributes were extracted from a database in four categories: (1) life form, (2) persistence and growth, (3) reproduction, and (4) resource use. We clustered species into guilds by morphological characteristics and attributes related to environmental tolerances, modeling these guilds' distributions as a function of environmental filters—regional climate, watershed hydrogeomorphic characteristics, and stream channel form—and guild co‐existence. We identified five guilds: (1) a tall, deeply rooted, long‐lived, evergreen tree guild, (2) a xeric, disturbance tolerant shrub guild, (3) a hydrophytic, thicket‐forming shrub guild, (4) a low‐statured, shade‐tolerant, understory shrub guild, and (5) a flood tolerant, mesoriparian shrub guild.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2015
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1890/ES15-00064.1
Citation Information
Joseph M. Wheaton. "Multi‐scale environmental filters and niche partitioning govern the distributions of riparian vegetation guilds" Ecosphere Vol. 6 Iss. 10 (2015) p. 1 - 22 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/joseph_wheaton/168/