Interplay of above‐ and belowground resource limitations: a competition–facilitation shift maintains species coexistence

Abstract

Forest ecosystems are commonly characterised by a hierarchy of resources. During a disturbance of a forest community, increased light availability in the understorey can support competitive interactions at the expense of facilitation. This may overwhelm the role of belowground resource heterogeneity in maintaining species coexistence and so result in biotic homogenisation of a site. We re‐surveyed species composition while estimating interspecific interactions along a microtopographic (moisture) gradient of a temperate swamp forest after increasing the availability of light into the undergrowth. We measured temporal changes in species diversity, compositional dissimilarity measures and functional traits, while belowground resource heterogeneity remained unchanged over time. To explain observed changes in terms of prevailing interspecific interactions, we evaluated temporal changes in the competition–facilitation balance. The productivity of understorey vegetation increased strongly over the five years of the study. This was accompanied by an increase in species diversity and the maintenance of compositional dissimilarity. The relative importance of competitive and facilitative interactions along the microtopographic gradient did not change over time. Rather than an overall biotic homogenisation of a site, we observed a spread of resource acquisitive species within the resource‐rich sites and of stress‐tolerant species within the resource‐limited sites. We have shown that the temporary increase in productivity did not mitigate the effects of belowground resource heterogeneity on plant species turnover, which is likely maintained by contrasting interspecific interactions prevalent in different parts of the resource gradient. This suggests contrasting community assembly processes maintain diversity and productivity even in a local community.