Article
Large niche differences emerge at the recruitment stage to stabilize grassland coexistence
Ecological Monographs
(2015)
Abstract
Niche differences and average fitness differences jointly determine coexistence. However, little empirical information about the magnitude of these two mechanisms is available. Using multispecies population models fit to long-term demographic data for common, co-occurring species in five grassland and shrubland plant communities in western North America, we estimated the strength of stabilizing niche differences and average fitness differences. In all five communities, both pairwise and full community comparisons showed evidence for strong stabilizing mechanisms and relatively small average fitness differences. For a total of 17 species pairs, a measure of niche differences based on simulations of invasion growth rates ranged from 0.59 to 0.93 with a mean of 0.81, where 0 indicates complete niche overlap and 1 indicates zero niche overlap. A corresponding measure of average fitness differences ranged from 1.02 to 2.54 with a mean of 1.53, where 1 indicates identical fitness and a value of 2 indicates a fourfold difference in sensitivity to competition. Comparisons of full communities displayed similar patterns: niche differences ranged from 0.58 to 0.69 with a mean of 0.64, and the average fitness differences ranged from 1.42 to 1.63 with a mean of 1.47.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2015
DOI
DOI: 10.1890/14-1741.1
Citation Information
Peter B. Adler. "Large niche differences emerge at the recruitment stage to stabilize grassland coexistence" Ecological Monographs Vol. 85 Iss. 3 (2015) p. 373 - 392 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/peter_adler/123/