Model of coexistence of annual plants in a heterogeneous habitat
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2018.5.2.369Keywords:
plant dynamics, Monte Carlo simulations, water supply-demand mismatch, annual plants, spatial heterogeneityAbstract
We propose a computer simulation type model describing dynamics of a system of annual plants competing for just one resource and living in a heterogeneous habitat. Plants do interact via blocking a part of the resource in the nearest neighbourhood. Species differ in only one aspect – demand for the resource. Plant which has supply equal demand has the largest probability to survive, while any deviation diminishes it. Heterogeneity in space is introduced in two ways - by a gradient reducing supply along one axis and a system of patches, each having a different level of the resource. We show that without any trade-off mechanism, speciation or immigrants, coexistence of species is possible in a stationary state. We find out also that the two descriptions of the heterogeneity lead to nearly the same numbers of surviving species, although the spatial structures and order of abundance of the populations are different.
Downloads
References
2 Levins R, Culver D. Regional coexistence of species and competition between rare species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 1971;6:1246– 1248.
3 Tilman D. Competition and biodiversity in spatially structured habitats. Ecology 1994;75:2–16. doi: 10.2307/1939377
4 Holmes E, Wilson H. Running from trouble: long distance dispersal and the competitive coexistence of inferior species. American Naturalist 1998;151:578–586. doi:10.1086/286143
5 Yu D, Wilson H. The competition-colonization trade-off is dead; long live the competition-colonization trade-off. The American Naturalist 2001;158:49–63.
6 Coomes D, Rees M, Turnbull L, Ratcliffe S. On the mechanisms of coexistence among annual-plant species, using neighborhood techniques and simulation models. Plant Ecology 2002;163:23–39. doi:10.1086/286143
7 Muller-Landau H C. The tolerance-fecundity trade-off and the maintenance of diversity in seed size. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2010;107:4242–4247.
8 Roxburgh S, Shea K, Wilson J. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis: patch dynamics and mechanisms of species coexistence. Ecology 2004;85:359–371. doi:1890/03-0266
9 Miller A, Reilly D, Bauman S, Shea K. Interactions between frequency and size of disturbance affect competitive outcomes. Ecological Research 2012;27:783–791. doi: 10.1007/s11284-012-054-4
10 O’Brien E. Climatic gradients in woody plant species richness: towards an explanation based on an analysis of southern Africa’s woody flora. Journal of Biogeography 1993;181–198.
11 Seifan M, Seifan T, Jeltsch F, Tielborger K. Combined disturbances and the role of their spatial and temporal properties in shaping community structure. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 2012; 14:217–229.
12 Pacala S. Neighborhood models of plant population dynamics. 2. multi-species models of annuals. Theoretical Population Biology 1986;29:262–292.
13 Schwilk D W, Ackerly D D. Limiting similarity and functional diversity along environmental gradients. Ecology Letters 2005;8:272-281. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00720x
14 Hubbell S P. The unified theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ; 2001.
15 Droz M, P?kalski A. Role of tolerance to resource demand-supply mismatch in a model of annual plants. Plant Science Today 2017;4:191-201. doi:10.14719/pst.2017.4.4332
16 Stein A, Gerstner K, Kreft H. Environmental heterogeneity as a universal driver of species richness across taxa, biomes and spatial scales. Ecology Letters 2014;17:866–880. doi:10.1111/ele.12277
17 Wilson W, Nisbet R. Cooperation and competition along smooth environmental gradients. Ecology 1997;78:2004– 2017.
18 Travis J, Brooker R, Clark E, Dytham C. The distribution of positive and negative species interactions across environmental gradients on a dual-lattice model. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2006;241:896–902.
19 Silvertown J. Plant coexistence and the niche. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2004;19:605–611.
20 Kadmon R, Allouche O. Integrating the effects of area, isolation, and habitat heterogeneity on species diversity: a unification of island biogeography and niche theory. The American Naturalist 2007;170:443–454.
21 Hortal J, Triantis K, Meiri S, Thèbault E, Sfenthourakis S. Island species richness increases with habitat diversity. The American Naturalist 2009;174:E205–E217.
22 Lundholm J. Plant species diversity and environmental heterogeneity: spatial scale and competing hypotheses. Journal of Vegetation Science 2009;20:377–391.
23 Connolly J, Wayne P, Bazzaz F. Interspecific competition in plants: how well do current methods answer fundamental questions? American Naturalist 2001;157:107–125. doi: 10.1086/318631
24 Schenk H. Root competition: beyond resource depletion. Journal of Ecology2006;94:725–739. doi: 10.111/j.1365-2745.2006.01124.x
25 Shirley H. The influence of light intensity and light quality upon the growth of plants. American Journal of Botany 1929;16:354–390.
26 Levin S. Community equilibria and stability, and an extension of the competitive exclusion principle. American Naturalist 1970;104:413–423. doi:10.1086/28.2676
27 Chesson P, Warner R. Environmental variability promotes coexistence in lottery competitive systems. American Naturalist 1981;117:923–943.
28 Hardin G. The competitive exclusion principle. Science 1960;131:1292-1297. doi:10.1126/science.131.34098.1292
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright and Licence details of published articles
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Open Access Policy
Plant Science Today is an open access journal. There is no registration required to read any article. All published articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC Attribution 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
