Skip to main content

Understanding plant community responses to combinations of biotic and abiotic factors in different phases of the plant growth cycle.

Wood, K.A., Stillman, R. A., Clarke, R. T., Daunt, F. and O'Hare, M.T., 2012. Understanding plant community responses to combinations of biotic and abiotic factors in different phases of the plant growth cycle. PLoS One, 7 (11), e49824 - .

Full text available as:

[img]
Preview
PDF (OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE)
Wood et al 2012 - Plant community responses - PLoS ONE.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

372kB

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049824

Abstract

Understanding plant community responses to combinations of biotic and abiotic factors is critical for predicting ecosystem response to environmental change. However, studies of plant community regulation have seldom considered how responses to such factors vary with the different phases of the plant growth cycle. To address this deficit we studied an aquatic plant community in an ecosystem subject to gradients in mute swan (Cygnus olor) herbivory, riparian shading, water temperature and distance downstream of the river source. We quantified abundance, species richness, evenness, flowering and dominance in relation to biotic and abiotic factors during the growth-, peak-, and recession-phases of the plant growth cycle. We show that the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors varied between plant community properties and between different phases of the plant growth cycle. Herbivory became more important during the later phases of peak abundance and recession due to an influx of swans from adjacent pasture fields. Shading by riparian vegetation also had a greater depressing effect on biomass in later seasons, probably due to increased leaf abundance reducing light intensity reaching the aquatic plants. The effect of temperature on community diversity varied between upstream and downstream sites by altering the relative competitiveness of species at these sites. These results highlight the importance of seasonal patterns in the regulation of plant community structure and function by multiple factors.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1932-6203
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:20825
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:24 Apr 2013 09:24
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 13:47

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

More statistics for this item...
Repository Staff Only -