Environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands

Abstract Habitat filtering models predict ecologically similar plant species to jointly colonize sites due to comparable environmental characteristics leading to an aggregated pattern of species spatial occurrence. Models focused on interspecific competition expect species with similar ecological re...

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Autores principales:	Werner Ulrich, Piotr Sewerniak, Radosław Puchałka, Marcin Piwczyński
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/11f591ce0f7c4334adcedde12a6ac3aa
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:11f591ce0f7c4334adcedde12a6ac3aa2021-12-02T16:06:31ZEnvironmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands10.1038/s41598-017-00255-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/11f591ce0f7c4334adcedde12a6ac3aa2017-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00255-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Habitat filtering models predict ecologically similar plant species to jointly colonize sites due to comparable environmental characteristics leading to an aggregated pattern of species spatial occurrence. Models focused on interspecific competition expect species with similar ecological requirements to be spatially segregated. While both models are corroborated by field work, few empirical studies have tried to infer under which habitat conditions these patterns of co-occurrence prevail. Here we use an exceptional data set on central European pine forest understorey plant communities to assess the change in community structure along gradients of soil productivity and heterogeneity. We found all understorey communities to be significantly nested. The degree of segregation increased with increasing soil Ca and Mg content, as well as with increasing pH, nutrient availability, and moisture. However, variability in soil characteristics did not significantly influence the pattern of species co-occurrence. We also found an intimate link between productivity, species richness, and species segregation making any causal inference challenging. These results point to possible misinterpretations and pitfalls in studies on community assembly. Finally our results demonstrate that managed forests provide a natural experiment of understorey community assembly under controlled conditions, an experiment that deserves further attention.Werner UlrichPiotr SewerniakRadosław PuchałkaMarcin PiwczyńskiNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Werner Ulrich Piotr Sewerniak Radosław Puchałka Marcin Piwczyński Environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands
description	Abstract Habitat filtering models predict ecologically similar plant species to jointly colonize sites due to comparable environmental characteristics leading to an aggregated pattern of species spatial occurrence. Models focused on interspecific competition expect species with similar ecological requirements to be spatially segregated. While both models are corroborated by field work, few empirical studies have tried to infer under which habitat conditions these patterns of co-occurrence prevail. Here we use an exceptional data set on central European pine forest understorey plant communities to assess the change in community structure along gradients of soil productivity and heterogeneity. We found all understorey communities to be significantly nested. The degree of segregation increased with increasing soil Ca and Mg content, as well as with increasing pH, nutrient availability, and moisture. However, variability in soil characteristics did not significantly influence the pattern of species co-occurrence. We also found an intimate link between productivity, species richness, and species segregation making any causal inference challenging. These results point to possible misinterpretations and pitfalls in studies on community assembly. Finally our results demonstrate that managed forests provide a natural experiment of understorey community assembly under controlled conditions, an experiment that deserves further attention.
format	article
author	Werner Ulrich Piotr Sewerniak Radosław Puchałka Marcin Piwczyński
author_facet	Werner Ulrich Piotr Sewerniak Radosław Puchałka Marcin Piwczyński
author_sort	Werner Ulrich
title	Environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands
title_short	Environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands
title_full	Environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands
title_fullStr	Environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands
title_full_unstemmed	Environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands
title_sort	environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in central european pine stands
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/11f591ce0f7c4334adcedde12a6ac3aa
work_keys_str_mv	AT wernerulrich environmentalfilteringtriggerscommunityassemblyofforestunderstoreyplantsincentraleuropeanpinestands AT piotrsewerniak environmentalfilteringtriggerscommunityassemblyofforestunderstoreyplantsincentraleuropeanpinestands AT radosławpuchałka environmentalfilteringtriggerscommunityassemblyofforestunderstoreyplantsincentraleuropeanpinestands AT marcinpiwczynski environmentalfilteringtriggerscommunityassemblyofforestunderstoreyplantsincentraleuropeanpinestands
_version_	1718384948306509824

Environmental filtering triggers community assembly of forest understorey plants in Central European pine stands

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