Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition

Les Traits fonctionnels de plantes ont des effets globalement cohérents sur la compétition

Georges Kunstler (1, 2) , D. Falster (3) , D.A. Coomes (4) , F. Hui (5) , R.M. Kooyman (6) , D.C. Laughlin (7) , L. Poorter (8) , M. Vanderwel (9) , G. Vieilledent (10, 11) , S.J. Wright (12) , M. Aiba (13) , Christopher Baraloto (14) , J. Caspersen (15) , J.H.C. Cornelissen (16) , Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury (10, 11) , M. Hanewinkel (17) , Bruno Hérault (14, 11) , J. Kattge (18) , H. Kurokawa (13) , Y. Onoda (19) , J. Penuelas (20) , Hendrik Poorter (21) , M. Uriarte (22) , Sandrine Richardson (23) , P. Ruiz-Benito (24) , I.F. Sun (25) , G. Stalh (26) , N.G. Swenson (27) , John Mitchell Thompson (28) , B. Westerlund (26) , C. Wirth (29) , M.A. Zavala (30) , H. Zeng (15) , J.K. Zimmerman (31) , N.E. Zimmermann (32) , M. Westoby (3)

1 UR EMGR - Ecosystèmes montagnards
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia
3 MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY AUS
4 UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE GBR
5 ANU - Australian National University
6 NATIONAL HERBARIUM OF NEW SOUTH WALES AUS
7 UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO HAMILTON NZL
8 WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]
9 UNIVERSITY OF REGINA CAN
10 UPR Forêts et Sociétés - Forêts et Sociétés
11 Cirad-ES - Département Environnements et Sociétés
12 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
13 TOHOKU UNIVERSITY JPN
14 UMR ECOFOG - Ecologie des forêts de Guyane
15 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO CAN
16 VU - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam [Amsterdam]
17 UNIVERSITY OF FREIBURG DEU
18 MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR BIOGEOCHEMISTRY JENA DEU
19 KYOTO UNIVERSITY JPN
20 CSIC CATALONIA ESP
21 FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM JULICH GMBH DEU
22 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY USA
23 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research [Lincoln]
24 University of Stirling
25 NATIONAL DONG HWA UNIVERSITY HUALIEN TWN
26 SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences = Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
27 UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND USA
28 CEH - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology [Bangor]
29 Fakultät für Physik und Geowissenschaften [Leipzig]
30 UNIVERSITY OF ALCALA ESP
31 UPR - University of Puerto Rico
32 WSL BIRMENSDORF CHE

Phenotypic traits and their associated trade-offs have been shown to have globally consistent effects on individual plant physiological functions1, 2, 3, but how these effects scale up to influence competition, a key driver of community assembly in terrestrial vegetation, has remained unclear4. 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 strategies5. 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.

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

Georges Kunstler, D. Falster, D.A. Coomes, F. Hui, R.M. Kooyman, et al.. Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition. Nature, 2016, 529 (7585), pp.204-207. ⟨10.1038/nature16476⟩. ⟨hal-02602285⟩