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Intraspecific aggregation alters competitive interactions in experimental plant communities

Stoll, P. and Prati, D.. (2001) Intraspecific aggregation alters competitive interactions in experimental plant communities. Ecology, 82, Nr. 2. pp. 319-327.

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Official URL: http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5250247

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Abstract

We tested the prediction from spatial competition models that intraspecific aggregation may promote coexistence and thus maintain biodiversity with experimental communities of four annual species. Monocultures, three-species mixtures, and the four-species mixture were sown at two densities and with either random or intraspecifically aggregated distributions. There was a hierarchy of competitive abilities among the four species. The weaker competitors showed higher aboveground biomass in the aggregated distribution compared to the random distribution, especially at high density. In one species, intraspecific aggregation resulted in an 86% increase in the number of flowering individuals and a 171% increase in the reproductive biomass at high density. The competitively superior species had a lower biomass in the aggregated distribution than in the random distribution at high density. The data support the hypothesis that the spatial distribution of plants profoundly affects competition in such a way that weaker competitors increase their fitness while stronger competitors are suppressed when grown in the neighborhood of conspecifics. This implies that the spatial arrangement of plants in a community can be an important determinant of species coexistence and biodiversity.
Faculties and Departments:05 Faculty of Science > Departement Umweltwissenschaften > Ehemalige Einheiten Umweltwissenschaften > Naturschutzbiologie (Baur)
UniBasel Contributors:Stoll, Peter
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:Ecological Society of America
ISSN:0012-9658
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Identification Number:
Last Modified:22 Mar 2012 14:28
Deposited On:22 Mar 2012 14:03

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