Ontogenetic shifts in interactions among annual plants

@article{citeulike:505472, abstract = {Summary 1 Interactions among plants strongly influence the structure and dynamics of plant populations and communities. However, most empirical studies of plant-plant interactions failed to make repeated measures of responses to neighbouring individuals and thereby neglected possible changes in interactions throughout the life history of the plants. 2 We tested the hypothesis that competition between annual species intensifies from early to late life-history stages, by sequentially measuring interactions in neighbour-removal experiments at three study sites located along a rainfall gradient in Israel. 3 Two annual species, Biscutella didyma and Hymenocarpos circinnatus, grew with and without neighbours in their natural habitats. Five response variables representing consecutive life-history stages (seedling survival, juvenile biomass, adult survival, number of seeds and final biomass) were recorded throughout the whole growing season. 4 The direction and intensity of interactions varied considerably between environments and life stages. On average, growth-related response variables indicated higher competition intensity at the productive end of the climatic gradient, while survival indicated either facilitation at the dry end or no trend along the gradient. 5 Temporal changes occurred, with moderate facilitation soon after germination shifting to strong competition at the end of the growing season. 6 Our results demonstrate that the outcome of experimental studies on plant-plant interactions may depend not only on the environmental productivity but more so on the life stage at which the target plant is studied. Journal of Ecology (2006)doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01097.x}, author = {Schiffers, Katja and Tielborger, Katja}, citeulike-article-id = {505472}, doi = {10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01097.x}, journal = {Journal of Ecology}, keywords = {annual, neighbour-effects, ontogeny, plant, study-method}, number = {2}, pages = {336--341}, posted-at = {2006-02-15 01:01:08}, priority = {2}, title = {Ontogenetic shifts in interactions among annual plants}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01097.x}, volume = {94}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:505472 L3 - citeulike-article-id:505472 N2 - Summary 1 Interactions among plants strongly influence the structure and dynamics of plant populations and communities. However, most empirical studies of plant-plant interactions failed to make repeated measures of responses to neighbouring individuals and thereby neglected possible changes in interactions throughout the life history of the plants. 2 We tested the hypothesis that competition between annual species intensifies from early to late life-history stages, by sequentially measuring interactions in neighbour-removal experiments at three study sites located along a rainfall gradient in Israel. 3 Two annual species, Biscutella didyma and Hymenocarpos circinnatus, grew with and without neighbours in their natural habitats. Five response variables representing consecutive life-history stages (seedling survival, juvenile biomass, adult survival, number of seeds and final biomass) were recorded throughout the whole growing season. 4 The direction and intensity of interactions varied considerably between environments and life stages. On average, growth-related response variables indicated higher competition intensity at the productive end of the climatic gradient, while survival indicated either facilitation at the dry end or no trend along the gradient. 5 Temporal changes occurred, with moderate facilitation soon after germination shifting to strong competition at the end of the growing season. 6 Our results demonstrate that the outcome of experimental studies on plant-plant interactions may depend not only on the environmental productivity but more so on the life stage at which the target plant is studied. Journal of Ecology (2006)doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01097.x IS - 2 JF - Journal of Ecology EP - 341 TI - Ontogenetic shifts in interactions among annual plants VL - 94 SP - 336 KW - annual KW - neighbour-effects KW - ontogeny KW - plant KW - study-method AU - Schiffers, Katja AU - Tielborger, Katja PY - 2006/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01097.x ER -