Abstract
The relationship between plant traits and species relative abundance along environmental gradients can provide important insights on the determinants of community structure. Here we bring extensive data on six key traits (specific leaf area (SLA), seed mass, seed germination rate, height, leaf proline content and photosynthesis rate) to test trait-abundance relationships in a successional chronosequence of subalpine meadow plant communities. Our results show that in late-successional meadows, abundant species had higher values for seed mass, seed germination rate, and SLA, but had lower values for height, photosynthesis rate, and leaf proline content than rarer species. The opposite patterns of trait-abundance relationships were observed for early-successional meadows. Observations of strong trait convergence and divergence in these successional communities lend greater support for niche processes compared to neutral community assembly. We conclude that species' niches that determine plant growth (plant height and photosynthesis rate), carbon balance (SLA, photosynthesis rate), regeneration (seed mass and seed germination rate), and abiotic stress resistance (leaf proline content) under different environmental conditions have strong influence on species relative abundance in these sub-alpine meadow communities during succession.
Highlights
What factors determine species abundance or why some species are common and others are rare during ecological succession are among the oldest questions in community ecology [1,2,3,4]
The ANCOVA model results show that the correlations between species relative abundance and six key eco-physiological traits shift significantly with increase in successional age at both sites (p
We found that plant height, photosynthesis rate and leaf proline content were positively associated with species abundances at early phases (4- and 6-year meadow), but were negatively related species abundances in late states (10, 13-year and undisturbed meadow) at both chronosequences (p
Summary
What factors determine species abundance or why some species are common and others are rare during ecological succession are among the oldest questions in community ecology [1,2,3,4]. The mechanisms that determine spcies abundance are reflected in differentiating the relative importance of neutral versus niche-assembly processes in determining species abundance [5]. Quantifying the role of functional traits on species abundance is central to the evaluation of the neutral and niche processes that shape species abundance [6, 7]. Niche theories invoke species-level differences in functional traits that represent evolutionary adaptations to abiotic and biotic environments [8]. Species abundance is determined by a series of unavoidable.
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