Rodent-mediated plant community competition:what happens to the seeds after entering the adjacent stands?

Background:Seed dispersal by scatter-hoarding animals can affect the developmental dynamics of plant communities.However,how animals might participate in plant inter-community competition has rarely been investigated.Forest community junction is an area where the competition between plant communities is most prominent and animal activity is more frequent.At present,little is known about how scatter-hoarding animals might assist competitions by adjacent plant communities.Thus,for 3 years(2015–2017),we tracked the fate of 2880 tagged seeds(Quercus aliena var.acuteserrata,Pinus tabuliformis,and P.armandii seed)placed near an edge where the forest composition changes from a pine forest to an oak forest in northwestern China.Results:We found that the seed fates differed when Quercus and Pinus seeds entered adjacent stands.In contrast to Pinus seeds,acorns that entered pine forests were characterized by higher caching rates and longer dispersal distances.Pinus seeds had the highest probability of being predated(85%)by rodents,and eleven Q.aliena var.acuteserrata seedlings were established in pine forests,although none survived in the later stages.In addition,rodents exhibited obvious selectivity in terms of the microhabitats for the seed caching sites.Conclusions:Seed fates differed when Quercus and Pinus seeds entered adjacent stands.The predation pressure by rodents on the seeds of Pinus species limited the germination of seeds and seedling establishment in oak forests.The different seed fates after their bidirectional dispersal could affect the differences in natural regeneration between pine and oak forests,and they might increase the recruitment rates for oak at the edge of an adjacent community.Rodent-mediated seed dispersal could potential unintentionally affect the competition between plant communities.

The Growth of Two Species of Subalpine Co-nifer Saplings in Response to Soil Warming and Inter-Competition in Mt. Gongga on the South-Eastern Fringe of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

In conjunction with global climate change, soil temperatures have been recorded to be increasing more rapidly than air temperatures at Mt. Gongga, China. Plant density is also increasing, and a means of combining the effects of changes in soil temperature and competition on the growth and regeneration of the constructive coniferous species seedlings in the subalpine ecotones is needed. Thus, a split-plot design experiment was conducted with Sargent spruce (Picea brachytyla) and Purple cone spruce (P. purpurea) saplings, using four soil temperatures (control Tsoil = 11.9℃ ± 0.3℃, low Tsoil = 13.4℃ ± 0.140℃, intermediate Tsoil = 15.4℃ ± 0.1℃, high Tsoil = 16.4℃ ± 0.2℃) and three plant densities (one, two and three saplings per pot), in the subalpine ecotone. Soil temperatures were controlled through a cable heating system. After two growing seasons under the soil temperature treatments, 107 Sargent spruce saplings and 110 of the same-aged Purple cone spruce saplings were harvested. The results showed that Sargent spruce grew faster and with a greater biomass productivity than Purple cone spruce. Increased soil temperature significantly increased leaf biomass, branch biomass, above-ground biomass, and total plant biomass for developing crown architecture in Sargent spruce, whereas plant competition (i.e., higher density) notably caused a decline in leaf biomass, branch biomass, and above-ground biomass. Purple cone spruce did not respond to either an increases in soil temperature or plant competition. Neither plant species was influenced by the interaction of soil temperature and plant competition. These results suggest that Sargent spruce may expand the upper and lower limits of its distribution as global warming continues, but the expansion is likely to be restricted by plant competition in the future, including that from Purple cone spruce. Below-ground, fine root biomass does not change with soil warming although other sized roots do in both species. This signifies that light availability is more important in the acclimation of Sargent spruce to the changing environments than soil nutrient availability. Purple cone spruce is unaffected by the complex changing environment, suggesting that this spruce may stably grow and continue to thrive in the subalpine ecotone in future scenarios of climate change.

A size-gradient hypothesis for alpine treeline ecotones

Research on the stress gradient hypothesis recognizes that positive(i.e. facilitative) and negative(i.e. competitive) plant interactions change in intensity and effect relative to abiotic stress experienced on a gradient. Motivated by observations of alpine treeline ecotones, we suggest that this switch in interaction could operate along a gradient of relative size of individual plants. We propose that as neighbors increase in size relative to a focal plant they improve the environment for that plant up to a critical point. After this critical point is surpassed, however, increasing relative size of neighbors will degrade the environment such that the net interaction intensity becomes negative. We developed a conceptual(not site or species specific) individual based model to simulate a single species with recruitment, growth, and mortality dependent on the environment mediated by the relative size of neighbors. Growth and size form a feedback. Simulation results show that the size gradient model produces metrics similar to that of a stress gradient model. Visualizations reveal that the size gradient model produces spatial patterns that are similar to the complex ones observed at alpine treelines. Size-mediated interaction could be a mechanism of the stress gradient hypothesis or it could operate independent of abiotic stress.

Effects of ectomycorrhizal fungal identity and diversity on subtropical tree competition

Aims Mycorrhizal fungi can re-distribute nutrients among plants through formation of underground common mycorrhizal networks and therefore may alter interspecific plant competition.However,the effect of ectomycorrhizal(EM)fungi on interspecific plant competition in subtropical forests is poorly understood.In this study,we investigated the effects of EM fungal identity and diversity on the outcome of interspecific competition of plant species in relation to different successional stages in a Chinese subtropical forest.Materials and Methods This study selected four woody plant species,i.e.a pioneer tree Pinus massoniana,a late-pioneer tree Quercus serrata,a midsuccessional tree Cyclobalanopsis glauca and a late-successional tree Lithocarpus glaber in a Chinese subtropical forest.The outcomes of interspecific competition were investigated in the seedlings of three plant pairs,i.e.between Cy.glauca and Pin.mas-soniana,between Q.serrata and Pin.massoniana,and between Li.glaber and Q.serrata in a pot experiment.In the Cy.glauca-Pin.massoniana combination,plants in monoculture and two-species mixture were uninoculated or inoculated with EM fungi Paxillus involutus,Pisolithus tinctorius,Cenococcum geophilum,Laccaria bicolor and a mixture of these four fungal species.In the Q.ser-rata-Pin.massoniana and Li.glaber-Q.serrata combinations,plants in monocultures and two-species mixtures were uninoculated or inoculated with EM fungi Pis.tinctorius,Ce.geophilum,La.bicolor and a mixture of these three fungal species.EM root colonization rate and seedling biomass of each plant species were measured,and the outcomes of interspecific competition were estimated using competitive balance index after 6-month cultivation.Important Findings All EM fungal inoculation significantly promoted a competitive ability of the mid-successional tree Cy.glauca over the pioneer tree Pin.massoniana compared with the uninoculated control treatment,and the extent to which EM fungi affected the outcome of interspecific competition was dependent on EM fungal identity in the Cy.glauca and Pin.massoniana combination.EM fungal inoculation had no significant effect on the outcomes of interspecific competition between the late-pioneer tree Q.serrata and Pin.massoniana combination and between the late-successional tree Li.glaber and Q.serrata combination,compared with the uninoculated control treatment.However,amongst the EM fungal inoculation treatments the competitive ability of Q.serrata over Pin.massoniana was significantly higher in EM fungi Ce.geophilum and La.bicolor treatments than in Pis.tinctorius treatment.EM fungal diversity did not show a complementary effect on the outcomes of interspecific competition in all three plant pairs.This study demonstrated that the effect of EM fungi on the outcome of interspecific competition was dependent on the plant pairs tested in the subtropical forest ecosystem.

The need for alternative plant species interaction models

Aims The limitations of classical Lotka–Volterra models for analyzing and interpreting competitive interactions among plant species have become increasingly clear in recent years.Three of the problems that have been identified are(i)the absence of frequency-dependence,which is important for long-term coexistence of species,(ii)the need to take unmeasured(often unmeasurable)variables influencing individual performance into account(e.g.spatial variation in soil nutrients or pathogens)and(iii)the need to separate measurement error from biological variation.Methods We modified the classical Lotka–Volterra competition models to address these limitations.We fitted eight alternative models to pin-point cover data on Festuca ovina and Agrostis capillaris over 3 years in an herbaceous plant community in Denmark.A Bayesian modeling framework was used to ascertain whether the model amendments improve the performance of the models and increase their ability to predict community dynamics and to test hypotheses.Important Findings Inclusion of frequency-dependence and measurement error,but not unmeasured variables,improved model performance greatly.Our results emphasize the importance of comparing alternative models in quantitative studies of plant community dynamics.Only by considering possible alternative models can we identify the forces driving community assembly and change,and improve our ability to predict the behavior of plant communities.

Modeling the growth of individuals in crowded plant populations

Aims We present an improved model for the growth of individuals in plant populations experiencing competition.Methods Individuals grow sigmoidally according to the Birch model,which is similar to the more commonly used Richards model,but has the advantage that initial plant growth is always exponential.The individual plant growth models are coupled so that there is a maximum total biomass for the population.The effects of size-asymmetric competition are modeled with a parameter that reflects the size advantage that larger individual have over smaller individuals.We fit the model to data on individual growth in crowded populations of Chenopodium album.Important Findings When individual plant growth curves were not coupled,there was a negative or no correlation between initial growth rate and final size,suggesting that competitive interactions were more important in determining final plant size than were plants’initial growth rates.The coupled growth equations fit the data better than individual,uncoupled growth models,even though the number of estimated parameters in the coupled competitive growth model was far fewer,indicating the importance of modeling competition and the degree of size-asymmetric growth explicitly.A quantitative understanding of stand development in terms of the growth of individuals,as altered by competition,is within reach.