Reframing plant competition: Understanding how plant social interactions affect community assembly and the delivery of ecological goods and services

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The behavior of individuals influences the outcome of the interactions among species that can structure natural communities. For plants, species interactions are central to foundational theory in ecology and are drivers of issues of societal concern (e.g. invasive species, agricultural sustainability). The study of plant interactions has focused on deterministic outcomes of competition driven by shared limiting resources. However, plants engage in complex cue detection and fine-scale behavioural responses to neighbours which can be independent of resource-driven processes. Thus, the outcome of species interactions is determined by both resource and non-resource effects and responses of individual plants living together in space and time. The relative strengths of these processes will determine whether outcomes are negative, neutral, or positive at scales ranging from individual fitness to species coexistence. This ideas in this proposal build upon several recent discoveries, and continues to rely upon my experimental approach to understanding ecological processes. Over the next five years, I will address four objectives: 1.Determine how social context influences the relative importance of resource and non-resource cues for determining individual behaviour and performance. 2.Identify the determinants and contingencies of root placement decisions by individual plants. 3.Determine how plant traits, behaviour, and local context interact to affect ecosystem functioning. 4.Advance understanding of additional topics in plant behavioural ecology. Central to this research will be extensive training of HQP at the undergraduate, MSc & PhD, and PDF levels. The success of my program is dependent upon effective mentorship, helping encourage individuals as they develop as scientists. As evidenced from the publication record and current positions of my previous lab members, I have previously been successful in my training efforts. Though the research presented in the proposal is drawn from broad conceptual theory, its relevance to issues of concern in Canada and elsewhere is not abstract. Natural communities are constantly faced with external pressures, including the introduction of new species and changing climatic and resource conditions. As sessile organisms, plants must deal with their neighbours the entirety of their lives. Understanding how social interactions influence how plants respond to other factors could enhance the accuracy of conservation-oriented models. For example, behavioural adjustments may be a mechanism for ecosystem stability in the face of mild, but perhaps not major, perturbation. Furthermore, plant biology and ecology are the foundations of crop and cattle production. A deeper understanding of how plants occupy and use their habitat, including the integration of signals and cues, will have impacts on the productivity and sustainability of managed systems.