Abstract
Plant recruitment is a multi-stage process determining population dynamics and species distributions. Still, we have limited understanding of how the successive demographic processes depend on the environmental context across species’ distributional ranges. We conducted a large-scale transplant experiment to study recruitment of Pinus cembra over six years. We quantified the effects of environmental conditions on four demographic processes and identified the most limiting across and beyond the pines’ elevational range over several years. Realized transition probabilities of the demographic processes varied substantially across the species' distributional range. Seed deposition decreased from the lower to the upper elevational range margin by 90%, but this reduction was offset by increased seed germination and seedling survival. Dispersal limitation at the upper range margin potentially stems from unsuitable seed caching conditions for the animal seed disperser, whereas increased seed germination might result from enemy escape from fungal pathogens and favourable abiotic conditions at the upper range margin. Our multi-year experiment demonstrates that environmental context is decisive for the local relevance of particular demographic processes. We conclude that experimental studies identifying the limiting demographic processes controlling species distributions are key for projecting future range dynamics of plants.
Highlights
Plant recruitment is a multi-stage process determining population dynamics and species distributions
Many demographic processes depend on biotic interactions, such as the dispersal or predation of seeds by animals, or interactions with fungal pathogens or mutualists[7,8], which in turn are influenced by the environmental context
Plants are exposed to a substantial variation in the strength of biotic interactions and in abiotic c onditions[8,9,10], which may alter the demographic processes involved in recruitment (Fig. 1)[11,12]
Summary
Plant recruitment is a multi-stage process determining population dynamics and species distributions. We investigate how environmental conditions at different range positions (i.e., at the lower and upper range margin and at the elevational range centre) shape the demographic processes that determine the recruitment of Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra; Fig. 1), a keystone species forming and stabilizing the tree
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