Spatial indicators of plant community assembly from a 453-year sand-dune chronosequence

Background : We explored evidence for spatial patterning in vegetation across a sand-dune chronosequence spanning 453 years of primary succession to test for indications of a temporal signature of niche versus neutral processes during community assembly.

Methods : The study was conducted on a series of dune-capped beach ridges located in Wilderness State Park in Emmet County of northern Lower Michigan, United States (45° 43′ N, 84° 56′ E). Nearest-neighbour survey data were subjected to species dispersion and association analyses.

Results : Both species richness and species evenness showed the classic ‘hump-shaped’ relationship across successional time, suggesting that competition is an important force in structuring this community. However, the only evidence of intra-specific aggregation occurred in the youngest dune. Older dunes displayed random spatial structure and the oldest dunes tended toward a mix of random patterns and intra-specific segregation, i.e. with nearest neighbours more likely than by chance to be inter-specific. In addition, the frequency of species having lower neighbour-species richness than expected by chance was higher in younger, not older dunes. Species with significantly low neighbour richness (based on absolute nearest neighbours) on later dunes tended to have a high proportion of nearest neighbours that were intra-specific.

Conclusions : The data provided no evidence that resident species in later succession have greater intra-specific aggregation or more niche differentiation based on horizontal niche space. The data are more consistent with theories of community assembly involving competitive equivalence and/or effects of facilitation.     

外来物种入侵后的多物种竞争共存的集合种群模型

基于多物种竞争共存模型,提出外来物种与本地物种竞争共存途径的两种假想:外来物种通过插队竞争与本地物种实现共存;外来物种通过等位竞争与本地物种实现共存.并提出根据外来物种在两种竞争共存模式下占据生境斑块比例的稳定值大小来判断外来物种和本地物种的竞争共存途径.根据两种假想,分别建立了外来物种插队竞争共存模型和等位竞争共存模型.通过应用数学软件Mathematica 4.0对两个模型进行了模拟,得出以下结论:在外来物种与本地物种竞争共存状态下,如果外来物种通过插队竞争与本地物种实现共存,当本地物种竞争力差异较大时,外来物种极易对本地稀少物种构成危害.虽然外来物种不会直接造成本地稀少物种的灭绝,但是会使本地稀少物种的生境斑块急剧减少,增加本地稀少物种灭绝的可能性,而当本地物种竞争力差异较小时,外来物种对本地所有物种的影响都较小.如果外来物种通过等位竞争与本地物种实现共存,无论本地物种竞争力差异大小与否,外来物种只是影响到与其生态位相同的本地物种,影响程度取决于外来物种侵入时所占据生境斑块的比例大小.     

Changes in Individual Allometry Can Lead to Species Coexistence without Niche Separation

The principle of competitive exclusion is a fundamental tenet of ecology. Commonly used competition models predict that at most only one species per limiting resource can coexist in the same environment at steady state; hence, the upper limit to species diversity depends only on the number of limiting resources and not on the rates of resource supply. We demonstrate that such model behavior is the result of both the growth and biomass turnover functions being proportional to the population biomass. We argue that at least the growth function should be a nonlinear, concave downward function of biomass. This form for the growth function should arise simply because of changes in the allometry of individuals in the population. With this change in model structure, we show that any number of species can coexist at an asymptotically stable steady state, even where there is only one limiting resource. Furthermore, if growth increases nonlinearly with biomass, the steady-state resource concentration and hence the potential for biodiversity increases as the resource supply rate increases. Received 31 August 2001; accepted 10 April 2002.     

Niche overlap in allotopic and syntopic populations of sexually interacting ground‐hopper species

Abstract There is accumulating evidence that sexual interactions among species (reproductive interference) could have dramatic effects for species’ coexistence. It has been shown that the fitness of individuals can be substantially reduced as a consequence of reproductive interference. This might subsequently lead to displacement of a species (sexual exclusion). On the other hand, some evolutionary and ecological mechanisms might enable species to coexist, such as the divergence of mate recognition systems (reproductive character displacement), habitat partitioning, clumped dispersion patterns or different colonization capabilities. We have previously shown that the two ground‐hopper species Tetrix subulata and Tetrix ceperoi interact sexually in the laboratory as well as in the field. At sites where both species co‐occur niche overlap was high, suggesting that coexistence is maintained by different niche breadths rather than by habitat partitioning. To test the hypothesis that habitat partitioning does not contribute to species’ coexistence, we examined whether allotopic and syntopic populations of these two species differ in niche overlap (competitive release). Our results show that niche overlap is higher in syntopic than in allotopic populations, suggesting that the site‐specific habitat structure (heterogeneity) has a stronger influence on microhabitat utilization than the presence of heterospecifics. Hence, our data do not support the hypothesis that habitat partitioning plays a substantial role for the coexistence of these sexually interacting species.     

红树林群落通过淹水时间及海水盐度的生态位分化实现物种共存

红树林是生长在热带、亚热带海湾河口潮间带的受到周期性海水淹浸的木本植物群落, 红树植物如何适应潮间带环境、实现多物种分离共存一直是研究的热点。生态位理论是解释群落物种共存的重要理论和方法之一, 而幼苗是种群更新的基础。因此, 本研究选取海南岛分布较广的6种红树植物幼苗, 通过人工控制海水盐度、淹没时间和光照强度模拟不同的潮间带环境, 构建了一个微型的红树林小群落。通过测定这6种幼苗在不同控制环境中的净光合速率, 统计分析幼苗在海水盐度、淹水时间和光照强度3种资源条件下的生态位宽度、生态位重叠和生态位偏离程度, 尝试阐述红树植物在潮间带中分离共存的机制。结果表明: 在淹水方面, 6种幼苗的生态位宽度最大的为白骨壤(Avicennia marina) (0.956), 角果木(Ceriops tagal) (0.906)最小; 白骨壤、桐花树(Aegiceras corniculatum)和红海榄(Rhizophora stylosa)的生态位重叠度较高, 秋茄(Kandelia obovata)、海莲(Bruguiera sexangula)和角果木的生态位重叠度较高。生态位分离程度反映出在理论生态位中心是12 h/d的物种中, 白骨壤(0.698)适应淹水的范围较大, 在理论生态位中心是8 h/d的物种中秋茄(0.185)适应淹水的范围较大, 在理论生态位中心是4 h/d的物种中海莲(0.115)适应淹水的范围较大。在盐度资源方面, 生态位宽度最大的为白骨壤(0.987), 秋茄(0.496)最小; 白骨壤、桐花树和红海榄的生态位重叠度高, 海莲和角果木的生态位重叠度高, 秋茄与其他物种的生态位重叠度均不高。生态位分离程度反映出理论生态中心为20的物种中白骨壤(4.357)适应盐度的范围较大, 理论生态位中心是10的物种中角果木(10.594)适应盐度的范围较大。在光照资源方面, 生态位宽度最大的为角果木(0.995), 白骨壤(0.828)最小; 6种红树植物的生态位重叠度均较高; 生态位分离程度反映出理论生态中心为100%光照的物种中红海榄(23.138)适应光照的范围较大, 理论生态位中心是80%光照的物种中角果木(12.522)适应光照的范围较大。结合各物种在淹水、盐度和光照资源上的生态位分析, 可以看出它们在淹水和盐度资源上的生态位分化相对较早且明显, 各物种占据不同的淹水和盐度生态位, 生态位重叠程度相对较低, 对淹水和盐度资源的竞争较弱, 进而实现在潮间带中的分离共存; 而在光照资源上的生态位分化相对较晚且不明显, 多数为阳生植物, 生态位重叠程度较高, 对光照的竞争相对较强。     

Parasite–grass–forb interactions and rock–paper– scissor dynamics: predicting the effects of the parasitic plant Rhinanthus minor on host plant communities

1.  Parasitic plants affect the growth, reproduction and metabolism of their hosts and may also influence the outcome of competitive interactions between host species and, consequently, the structure of entire host communities.
2.  We investigate the effect of the root hemiparasitic plant Rhinanthus minor on plant community dynamics using a spatial theoretical model. The model is parameterized with data from pairwise interaction experiments under two nutrient levels between the hemiparasite and three grass species ( Cynosurus cristatus , Festuca rubra and Phleum bertolonii ) and three forb species ( Leucanthemum vulgare , Plantago lanceolata and Ranunculus acris ).
3.  Relative interaction coefficients were intransitive, with the dynamics of the system conforming to a rock–paper–scissors game. Stable deterministic dynamics emerge from parameters obtained under low-nutrient conditions. Under high-nutrient conditions, the dynamics are unstable, but are stabilized in spatially explicit models. The outcomes are sensitive to initial spatial pattern and frequency.
4.   Synthesis . This study supports the idea that hemiparasite populations may form 'shifting clouds' in natural populations and explains seemingly unpredictable shifts in host community structure following introduction of hemiparasites. Management of plant communities using hemiparasites needs to take these complex dynamics into account.     

代谢互养关系在维持微生物物种多样性中的作用

互养关系（cross-feeding）是微生物物种之间普遍存在的一种相互关系,其中物种利用环境中其他成员的代谢产物以促进自身生长的情形称为代谢互养关系,这种关系对物种间的竞争结果往往有很大影响,甚至会改变种群结构。为了研究代谢互养关系在维持微生物物种多样性中的作用,构建包含不同代谢互养关系的资源竞争模型,这些模型既体现了微生物物种竞争资源时种群密度及资源量的动态,也展示了物种利用其他竞争者的代谢资源对自身生存状况的影响。数值模拟结果显示：（1）考虑微生物中不同的代谢互养关系结构：两物种间单向互养、双向互养以及多物种间的互养,不同的互养关系都可以促进竞争物种稳定共存,竞争中处于劣势的物种通过利用其他竞争成员的代谢产物,打破外界资源量对其生长的限制,改变原本消亡的命运;而处于优势的物种则通过利用其他竞争成员的代谢产物,增大种群密度。（2）多物种竞争同一种有限资源时,不是所有物种都能共存,在四物种模拟中,原本处于最劣势的物种灭绝,其余三者共存。物种产生代谢资源对其本身是\"不利\"的,如果在模拟中物种利用代谢资源的能力相同,那么物种竞争外界资源的劣势就很可能无法被抵消。通过改变资源利用率发现只有互养关系中代谢资源的利用可以弥补劣势种在竞争外界资源时的不足,多物种才可以全部共存。（3）验证数值模拟结果的普遍性,分析参数变化对共存的影响,结果表明代谢互养关系促进的共存对代谢资源相关参数不敏感,参数的改变只影响平衡态时物种的种群密度。所以,代谢互养关系可以促进相互竞争的微生物物种共存,即微生物之间的互养关系很可能是维持物种多样性的一种机制。