Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology >
Plant community assembly rules across a subalpine grazing gradient in western Sichuan, China
Received date: 2009-11-16
Accepted date: 2010-08-14
Online published: 2010-10-31
Aims Community assembly rules are poorly understood, especially in subalpine areas. Plant communities are thought to be organized from a regional species pool through environmental filtering and competition. Environmental filtering will result in the formation of groups of species with similar traits, while competition will limit similarity of coexisting species. Environmental filtering and competition can also affect community phylogenetic structure when species niches are phylogenetically conservative. Our object was to uncover how these processes affected community assembly and their responses to grazing.
Methods We sampled plant communities in six sites across a grazing gradient and calculated functional group evenness to test effects of environmental filtering and competition. For investigating community phylogenetic structure, we calculated nearest taxon index and net relatedness index using phylocom software. We examined community phylogenetic structures and functional group evenness under a grazing gradient using null model and phylogenetic indexes.
Important findings We found strong nonrandom patterns in species richness distributions among functional groups in non-grazed plots, and functional group evenness significantly decreased with increased grazing pressure. There was a significant phylogenetic cluster in intensively grazing communities and this gradually became dispersion toward primary forest. As a filtering effect, grazing increased species richness of a few lineages and decreased others. This process resulted in community phylogenetic cluster or reductions in functional group evenness. Functional group evenness increasing and phylogenetic over-dispersion might stem from competition, which could limit similarity of coexisting species. Results indicated that both habitat filter and competition simultaneously shaped community structure. Findings suggest that grazing affected functional group evenness and phylogenetic structure through changing the balance between environmental filtering and competition in communities. The negative relationship between functional group evenness and species richness suggests that competition might suppress plant diversity in local communities. Results support that species functional divergence and their competition have important roles in community assembly.
YAN Bang-Guo, WEN Wei-Quan, ZHANG Jian, YANG Wan-Qin, LIU Yang, HUANG Xu, LI Ze-Bo . Plant community assembly rules across a subalpine grazing gradient in western Sichuan, China[J]. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2010 , 34(11) : 1294 -1302 . DOI: 10.3773/j.issn.1005-264x.2010.11.006
| [1] | Bai Y, Han X, Wu J, Chen Z, Li L (2004). Ecosystem stability and compensatory effects in the Inner Mongolia grassland. Nature, 431, 181-184. |
| [2] | Cadotte MW, Cardinale BJ, Oakley TH (2008). Evolutionary history and the effect of biodiversity on plant productivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 17012-17017. |
| [3] | Cadotte MW, Cavender-Bares J, Tilman D, Oakley TH (2009). Using phylogenetic, functional and trait diversity to understand patterns of plant community productivity. PLoS ONE, 4, e5695. |
| [4] | Chen Y (陈英 ) (2009). Detecting effect of phylogenetic diversity on seedling mortality in an evergreen broad- leaved forest in China. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology (植物生态学报), 33, 1084-1089. (in Chinese with English abstract) |
| [5] | Cornelissen JHC, Lavorel S, Garnier E, Díaz SM, Buchmann N, Gurvich DE, Reich PB, ter Steege H, Morgan HD, van der Heijden MGA, Pausas JG, Poorter H (2003). A handbook of protocols for standardised and easy measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Australian Journal of Botany, 51, 335-380. |
| [6] | Cornwell WK, Ackerly DD (2009). Community assembly and shifts in plant trait distributions across an environmental gradient in coastal California. Ecological Monographs, 79, 109-126. |
| [7] | Cornwell WK, Cornelissen JH, Amatangelo K, Dorrepaal E, Eviner VT, Godoy O, Hobbie SE, Hoorens B, Kurokawa H, Perez-Harguindeguy N, Quested HM, Santiago LS, Wardle DA, Wright IJ, Aerts R, Allison SD, van Bodegom P, Brovkin V, Chatain A, Callaghan TV, Díaz S, Garnier E, Gurvich DE, Kazakou E, Klein JA, Read J, Reich PB, Soudzilovskaia NA, Vaieretti MV, Westoby M (2008). Plant species traits are the predominant control on litter decomposition rates within biomes worldwide. Ecology Letters, 11, 1065-1071. |
| [8] | de Deyn GB, Cornelissen JH, Bardgett RD (2008). Plant functional traits and soil carbon sequestration in contrasting biomes. Ecology Letters, 11, 516-531. |
| [9] | Díaz SD, Lavorel S, McIntyre S, Falczuk V, Casanoves F, Milchunas DG, Skarpe C, Rusch G, Sternberg M, Noy-meir I, Landsberg J, Zhang W, Clark H, Campbell BD (2007). Plant trait responses to grazing―a global synthesis. Global Change Biology, 13, 313-341. |
| [10] | Emerson BC, Gillespie RG (2008). Phylogenetic analysis of community assembly and structure over space and time. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 23, 619-630. |
| [11] | Faith DP (2008). Threatened species and the potential loss of phylogenetic diversity: conservation scenarios based on estimated extinction probabilities and phylogenetic risk analysis. Conservation Biology, 22, 1461-1470. |
| [12] | Fargione J, Brown CS, Tilman D (2003). Community assembly and invasion: an experimental test of neutral versus niche processes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100, 8916-8920. |
| [13] | Fargione J, Tilman D (2005). Niche differences in phenology and rooting depth promote coexistence with a dominant C4 bunchgrass. Oecologia, 143, 598-606 |
| [14] | Forest F, Grenyer R, Rouget M, Davies TJ, Cowling RM, Faith DP, Balmford A, Manning JC, Proches S, van der Bank M, Reeves G, Hedderson TAJ, Savolainen V (2007). Preserving the evolutionary potential of floras in biodiversity hotspots. Nature, 445, 757-760. |
| [15] | Fornara DA, Tilman D (2008). Plant functional composition influences rates of soil carbon and nitrogen accumulation. Journal of Ecology, 96, 314-322. |
| [16] | Fornara DA, Tilman D, Hobbie SE (2009). Linkages between plant functional composition, fine root processes and potential soil N mineralization rates. Journal of Ecology, 97, 48-56. |
| [17] | Fortunel C, Garnier E, Joffre R, Kazakou E, Quested H, Grigulis K, Lavorel S, Ansquer P, Castro H, Cruz P, Dole?al J, Eriksson O, Freitas H, Golodets C, Jouany C, Kigel J, Kleyer M, Lehsten V, Lep? J, Meier T, Pakeman R, Papadimitriou M, Papanastasis VP, Quétier F, Robson M, Sternberg M, Theau JP, Thébault A, Zarovali M (2009). Leaf traits capture the effects of land use changes and climate on litter decomposability of grasslands across Europe. Ecology, 90, 598-611. |
| [18] | Gilbert GS, Webb CO (2007). Phylogenetic signal in plant pathogen-host range. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 4979-4983. |
| [19] | Helmus MR, Keller WB, Paterson MJ, Yan ND, Cannon CH, Rusak JA (2009). Communities contain closely related species during ecosystem disturbance. Ecology Letters, 13, 162-174. |
| [20] | Holdaway RJ, Sparrow AD (2006). Assembly rules operating along a primary riverbed-grassland successional sequence. Journal of Ecology, 94, 1092-1102. |
| [21] | Hubbell S (2001). The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. |
| [22] | Hubbell SP (2005). Neutral theory in community ecology and the hypothesis of functional equivalence. Functional Ecology, 19, 166-172. |
| [23] | Jiang YX (蒋有绪 ) (1981). Phytocenological role of forest floor in subalpine fir forests in western Sichuan Province. Acta Phytoecologia et Geobotanica Sinica (植物生态学与地植物学丛刊), 5, 89-98. (in Chinese with English abstract) |
| [24] | Kraft NJ, Valencia R, Ackerly DD (2008). Functional traits and niche-based tree community assembly in an Amazonian forest. Science, 322, 580-582. |
| [25] | Kunin WE (1998). Biodiversity at the edge: a test of the importance of spatial “mass effects” in the Rothamsted Park Grass experiments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 95, 207-212. |
| [26] | Ma KP (马克平), Liu YM (刘玉明 ) (1994). Measurement of biotic community diversity. I. α diversity (Part 2). Chinese Biodiversity (生物多样性), 2, 231-239. (in Chinese with English abstract) |
| [27] | MacArthur R, Levins R (1967). The limiting similarity, convergence, and divergence of coexisting species. The American Naturalist, 101, 377-385. |
| [28] | McGill BJ, Enquist BJ, Weiher E, Westoby M (2006). Rebuilding community ecology from functional traits. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 21, 178-185. |
| [29] | Meng TT (孟婷婷), Ni J (倪健), Wang GH (王国宏 ) (2007). Plant functional traits, environments and ecosystem functioning. Journal of Plant Ecology (Chinese Version) (植物生态学报), 31, 150-165. (in Chinese with English abstract) |
| [30] | Mokany K, Ash J, Roxburgh S (2008). Functional identity is more important than diversity in influencing ecosystem processes in a temperate native grassland. Journal of Ecology, 96, 884-893. |
| [31] | Moles AT, Ackerly DD, Webb CO, Tweddle JC, Dickie JB, Westoby M (2005). A brief history of seed size. Science, 307, 576-580. |
| [32] | Packer A, Clay K (2000). Soil pathogens and spatial patterns of seedling mortality in a temperate tree. Nature, 404, 278-281. |
| [33] | Prinzing A, Reiffers R, Braakhekke WG, Hennekens SM, Tackenberg O, Ozinga WA, Schaminee JH, van Groenendael JM (2008). Less lineages―more trait variation: phylogenetically clustered plant communities are functionally more diverse. Ecology Letters, 11, 809-819. |
| [34] | R Development Core Team (2009. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org. Cited 26 Jun. 2009. |
| [35] | Schamp B, Chau J, Aarssen L (2008). Dispersion of traits related to competitive ability in an old-field plant community. Journal of Ecology, 96, 204-212. |
| [36] | Stubbs WJ, Wilson JB (2004). Evidence for limiting similarity in a sand dune community. Journal of Ecology, 92, 557-567. |
| [37] | Suding KN, Lavorel S, ChapinIII FS, Cornelissen JHC, Díaz S, Garnier E, Goldberg D, Hooper DU, Jackson ST, Navas M-L (2008). Scaling environmental change through the community-level: a trait-based response-and-effect framework for plants. Global Change Biology, 14, 1125-1140. |
| [38] | Valiente-Banuet A, Rumebe AV, Verdu M, Callaway RM (2006). Modern Quaternary plant lineages promote diversity through facilitation of ancient Tertiary lineages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103, 16812-16817. |
| [39] | Wang ZW (王正文), Xing F (邢福), Zhu TC (祝廷成), Li XC (李宪长 ) (2002). The responses of functional group composition and species diversity of Aneurolepidium chinensis grassland to flooding disturbance on Songnen Plain, Northeastern China. Acta Phytoecologica Sinica (植物生态学报), 26, 708-716. (in Chinese with English abstract) |
| [40] | Webb CO (2000). Exploring the phylogenetic structure of ecological communities: an example for rain forest trees. The American Naturalist, 156, 145-155. |
| [41] | Webb CO, Ackerly DD, Kembel SW (2008). Phylocom: software for the analysis of phylogenetic community structure and trait evolution. Bioinformatics, 24, 2098-2100. |
| [42] | Webb CO, Ackerly DD, McPeek MA, Donoghue MJ (2002). Phylogenies and community ecology. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 33, 475-505. |
| [43] | Weiher E, Keddy P (1995). Assembly rules, null models, and trait dispersion: new questions from old patterns. Oikos, 74, 159-164. |
| [44] | Wikstrom N, Savolainen V, Chase MW (2001). Evolution of the angiosperms: calibrating the family tree. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 268, 2211-2220 |
| [45] | Willis CG, Ruhfel B, Primack RB, Miller-Rushing AJ, Davis CC (2008). Phylogenetic patterns of species loss in Thoreau’s woods are driven by climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 17029-17033. |
| [46] | Wilson JB, Roxburgh SH (1994). A demonstration of guild-based assembly rules for a plant community, and determination of intrinsic guilds. Oikos, 69, 267-276. |
/
| 〈 |
|
〉 |
Copyright © 2026 Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology
Tel: 010-62836134, 62836138, E-mail: apes@ibcas.ac.cn, cjpe@ibcas.ac.cn
