A new biogeographic study published in AoB PLANTS by Shelby et al. tested the evolution of increased competitive ability (EICA) hypothesis—a compelling explanation for why plants become invasive. The authors measured...
Tag - competition
AoBPLANTS
Competition effects on plastic and genotypic responses to [CO2]
Plant–plant interactions could mediate vegetation responses to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]), because some plants benefit more from [CO2] elevation than others. Van Loon et al. investigated how changes in...
botanyone
Do plant traits predict the competitive abilities of closely related species?
Invasive species are a threat to every ecosystem and thus there is a strong incentive to predict which species will become invasive before they become too widespread and unmanageable. In a recent study published in AoB...
Trade-offs between tree investment in primary and secondary growth are species- and environment-dependent
They say you’re an adult when you stop growing up and start growing out. Trees do both, investing in primary growth, height, and secondary growth, diameter. Effort put into growing up means there are fewer...
Native plant responses to enhanced rainfall
The environmental and biotic context within which plants grow have a great potential to modify responses to climatic changes, yet few studies have addressed both the direct effects of climate and the modulating roles...
Competition among native and invasive Impatiens species: the roles of environmental factors, population density, and life stage
Many invasive species are considered competitively superior to native species, with the strongest competition expected in species with similar niches and/or in closely related species. However, competition outcome is...
How tree species fill geographic and ecological space
Ricklefs analyses local assemblages of deciduous trees and finds that the forests in question do not appear to be saturated with species.
Picture Perfect
Are you a keen photographer? You are reading a botany blog, so we can speculate that you have at least a passing interest in plants! Over at photocrowd.com you can combine these two passions and throw in a little...
Sarah Irons
Density × species evenness effects on coexistence and growth
Collet et al. study a tree plantation that mixes beech and sycamore according to a double gradient of density and species’ proportion, and find that density and tree size are the primary factors determining individual...
N-source preference in plants (Viewpoint)
Plants can utilize two major forms of inorganic nitrogen, nitrate (NO3–) and ammonium (NH4+), with some species appearing to ‘prefer’ one form over another, under certain conditions. Soil-N speciation has been shown to...
Leaf display by conifer and angiosperm seedlings
The contemporary relegation of conifers mainly to cold or infertile sites has been ascribed to low competitive ability. Lusk et al. use 3-D modelling of plant architecture and structural equation modelling to compare...
Soil heterogeneity and intraspecific competition
Spatial heterogeneity in nutrients may increase the relative competitive ability of species that are more able to concentrate their roots where nutrient levels are high; if so, heterogeneity should have little effect on...
Leaf traits, growth allometry and competition
The ability to simulate plant competition accurately is essential for plant functional-type (PFT)-based models used in climate-change studies. Yu and Gao investigate competition between oak (Quercus liaotungensis) and...
Root–shoot responses during competition
Root–shoot responses during competition Plant competition studies are restricted by the difficulty of quantifying root systems of competitors. Robinson et al. apply a new approach in which the root systems are estimated...
