Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition
Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition
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DOI：
10.1038/nature16476
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发表时间：
2016-01-14
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Westoby, Mark
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kunstler, Georges;Falster, Daniel;Westoby, Mark
表型特征及其相关的权衡已被证明对单个植物生理功能具有全球一致的影响（1-3），但是这些效果如何扩展到影响竞争，这是陆地植被中社区组装的主要驱动力，仍然不清楚（4）。在这里，我们使用来自世界各地140,000多个地块中超过300万棵树的增长数据，以显示三个关键的功能性状特征密度，特定的叶子面积和最大高度一致地影响竞争性相互作用。物种的快速最大生长与所有生物群体中的木材密度呈负相关，并且在大多数生物群体中的特定叶片面积正相关。低木质密度也与低耐受竞争能力和对邻居的竞争作用低的能力相关，而高比叶面积与低竞争效应相关。因此，特征在竞争与没有竞争的竞争性能与表现之间产生权衡，这是经典假设的基本要素，即通过差异化植物物种的连续策略可以启用植物物种的共存（5）。物种内部的竞争比物种之间的竞争强，但是物种之间的性状差异的增加对弱势竞争的影响很小。对于特定的叶子面积或木材密度，没有检测到差异的好处，最大高度的益处却很弱。我们基于特征的建模竞争方法使概括在世界的森林生态系统及其高度多样化的物种组成中成为可能。
Phenotypic traits and their associated trade-offs have been shown to have globally consistent effects on individual plant physiological functions(1-3), but how these effects scale up to influence competition, a key driver of community assembly in terrestrial vegetation, has remained unclear (4). Here we use growth data from more than 3 million trees in over 140,000 plots across the world to show how three key functional traits-wood density, specific leaf area and maximum height-consistently influence competitive interactions. Fast maximum growth of a species was correlated negatively with its wood density in all biomes, and positively with its specific leaf area in most biomes. Low wood density was also correlated with a low ability to tolerate competition and a low competitive effect on neighbours, while high specific leaf area was correlated with a low competitive effect. Thus, traits generate trade-offs between performance with competition versus performance without competition, a fundamental ingredient in the classical hypothesis that the coexistence of plant species is enabled via differentiation in their successional strategies(5). Competition within species was stronger than between species, but an increase in trait dissimilarity between species had little influence in weakening competition. No benefit of dissimilarity was detected for specific leaf area or wood density, and only a weak benefit for maximum height. Our trait-based approach to modelling competition makes generalization possible across the forest ecosystems of the world and their highly diverse species composition.