Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol 50, 29-37, Copyright © 1999 by Oxford University Press
R Aerts
Interspecific competition in natural plant communities is highly dependent
on nutrient availability. At high levels of nutrient availability,
competition is mainly for light. As light is a unidirectional resource,
high nutrient habitats are dominated by fast-growing perennials with a tall
stature and a rather uniform vertical distribution of leaf area. Moreover,
these species have high turnover rates of leaves and roots and a high
morphological plasticity during the differentiation of leaves. There is
less consensus, however, about the importance and intensity of
interspecific competition in nutrient-poor environments. It is argued that
selection in nutrient-poor habitats is not necessarily on a high
competitive ability for nutrients and a high growth rate, but rather on
traits which reduce nutrient losses (low tissue nutrient concentrations,
slow tissue turnover rates, high nutrient resorption efficiency). Due to
evolutionary trade-offs plants can not maximize both growth rate and
nutrient retention. Thus, the low growth rate of species from nutrient-poor
habitats should be considered as the consequence of nutrient retention
rather than as a feature on which direct selection takes place. The
contrasting traits of species from nutrient-poor and nutrient-rich habitats
mutually exclude them from each others' habitats. Moreover, these traits
have severe consequences for litter decomposability and thereby also for
nutrient cycling. This leads both in nutrient-poor and nutrient-rich
habitats to a positive feedback between plant species dominance and
nutrient availability, thereby promoting ecosystem
stability.Keywords: Competition, growth rate, litter
decomposition, nutrient retention, plant strategies.
ARTICLES
Interspecific competition in natural plant communities: mechanisms, trade-offs and plant-soil feedbacks
Department of Systems Ecology, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1087, NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Fax: +31 20 4447123; E-mail:aerts@bio.vu.nl
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