Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly
Predicting species abundance is one of the most fundamental pursuits of ecology. Combining the information encoded in functional traits and metacommunities provides a new perspective to predict the abundance of species in communities. We applied a community assembly via trait selection model to pred...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Plant Diversity |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468265921001128 |
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| author | Yun-Yun He Kwansupa Srisombut Ding-Liang Xing Nanthan G. Swenson Mengesha Asefa Min Cao Xiao-Yang Song Han-Dong Wen Jie Yang |
| author_facet | Yun-Yun He Kwansupa Srisombut Ding-Liang Xing Nanthan G. Swenson Mengesha Asefa Min Cao Xiao-Yang Song Han-Dong Wen Jie Yang |
| author_sort | Yun-Yun He |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Predicting species abundance is one of the most fundamental pursuits of ecology. Combining the information encoded in functional traits and metacommunities provides a new perspective to predict the abundance of species in communities. We applied a community assembly via trait selection model to predict quadrat-scale species abundances using functional trait variation on ontogenetic stages and metacommunity information for over 490 plant species in a subtropical forest and a lowland tropical forest in Yunnan, China. The relative importance of trait-based selection, mass effects, and stochasticity in shaping local species abundances is evaluated using different null models. We found both mass effects and trait selection contribute to local abundance patterns. Trait selection was detectable at all studied spatial scales (0.04–1 ha), with its strength stronger at larger scales and in the subtropical forest. In contrast, the importance of stochasticity decreased with spatial scale. A significant mass effect of the metacommunity was observed at small spatial scales. Our results indicate that tree community assembly is primarily driven by ontogenetic traits and metacommunity effects. Our findings also demonstrate that including ontogenetic trait variation into predictive frameworks allows ecologists to infer ecological mechanisms operating in community assembly at the individual level. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T07:36:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a39418af88d94e6f80f5ccecbccd28c9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2468-2659 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T07:36:56Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plant Diversity |
| spelling | doaj.art-a39418af88d94e6f80f5ccecbccd28c92022-12-22T03:41:55ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Plant Diversity2468-26592022-07-01444360368Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assemblyYun-Yun He0Kwansupa Srisombut1Ding-Liang Xing2Nanthan G. Swenson3Mengesha Asefa4Min Cao5Xiao-Yang Song6Han-Dong Wen7Jie Yang8CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, ChinaSchool of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, ChinaDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USACAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China; Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China; Corresponding author. CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, 666303, China.Predicting species abundance is one of the most fundamental pursuits of ecology. Combining the information encoded in functional traits and metacommunities provides a new perspective to predict the abundance of species in communities. We applied a community assembly via trait selection model to predict quadrat-scale species abundances using functional trait variation on ontogenetic stages and metacommunity information for over 490 plant species in a subtropical forest and a lowland tropical forest in Yunnan, China. The relative importance of trait-based selection, mass effects, and stochasticity in shaping local species abundances is evaluated using different null models. We found both mass effects and trait selection contribute to local abundance patterns. Trait selection was detectable at all studied spatial scales (0.04–1 ha), with its strength stronger at larger scales and in the subtropical forest. In contrast, the importance of stochasticity decreased with spatial scale. A significant mass effect of the metacommunity was observed at small spatial scales. Our results indicate that tree community assembly is primarily driven by ontogenetic traits and metacommunity effects. Our findings also demonstrate that including ontogenetic trait variation into predictive frameworks allows ecologists to infer ecological mechanisms operating in community assembly at the individual level.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468265921001128MetacommunityMaximum entropyOntogenetic trait variationCommunity assemblyTrait-selected process |
| spellingShingle | Yun-Yun He Kwansupa Srisombut Ding-Liang Xing Nanthan G. Swenson Mengesha Asefa Min Cao Xiao-Yang Song Han-Dong Wen Jie Yang Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly Plant Diversity Metacommunity Maximum entropy Ontogenetic trait variation Community assembly Trait-selected process |
| title | Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly |
| title_full | Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly |
| title_fullStr | Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly |
| title_short | Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly |
| title_sort | ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly |
| topic | Metacommunity Maximum entropy Ontogenetic trait variation Community assembly Trait-selected process |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468265921001128 |
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