Data from: A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments
Facilitating effects of benefactor plants on plant species richness have been commonly tested in stressful habitats because competitive effects are assumed to predominate in more productive habitats. Here, we examine this assumption by testing whether benefactor plants can nonetheless be facilitatin...
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ftdans:oai:easy.dans.knaw.nl:easy-dataset:92504 2023-07-02T03:33:53+02:00 Data from: A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments Bråthen, Kari Anne Lortie, Christopher 2016-01-21T20:12:47.000+01:00 http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-r0-wh1s https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:92504 unknown doi:10.5061/dryad.fd20c/1 doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12458 http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-r0-wh1s doi:10.5061/dryad.fd20c https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:92504 OPEN_ACCESS: The data are archived in Easy, they are accessible elsewhere through the DOI https://dans.knaw.nl/en/about/organisation-and-policy/legal-information/DANSLicence.pdf Life sciences medicine and health care 2016 ftdans https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fd20c/110.1111/1365-2435.1245810.5061/dryad.fd20c 2023-06-13T13:21:14Z Facilitating effects of benefactor plants on plant species richness have been commonly tested in stressful habitats because competitive effects are assumed to predominate in more productive habitats. Here, we examine this assumption by testing whether benefactor plants can nonetheless be facilitating in competitive environments. We provide a conceptual framework describing how a trait of benefactor plants, canopy height of shrubs, can have a portfolio of facilitative effects on species richness in more competitive environments, and we provide an empirical assessment of this portfolio effect in tundra plant communities. Across tundra plant communities representing an extensive gradient in aboveground live biomass ranging from 11 to above 800 grams per m2, we found that species richness exhibited a humped-back relationship. Increasing canopy height of shrubs to a maximum height of what defines the dwarf shrub tundra, that is 40 cm, consistently and significantly increased species richness along the entire biomass gradient tested. The positive effect of shrub canopy height was not confounded with herbivore intensity, competitive interference or abiotic factors such as bedrock-weathered mineral availability, moisture availability or temperature. However, we cannot rule out that the general presence of large mammalian herbivory may have been central to the positive effect of shrub canopy height in reducing herbivore impacts on species richness. In this study, conceptual and empirical evidence support that increasing canopy height of shrubs facilitates species richness regardless of relative abiotic stress levels within tundra ecosystems. We propose that positive interactions can play an important ecological role in systems where competitive effects are observed or assumed. For tundra plant communities where climate change is currently causing encroachment of shrub species, the effects of increasing canopy height may have unprecedented effects on plant species richness. Other/Unknown Material Tundra Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS): EASY (KNAW - Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen) |
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Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS): EASY (KNAW - Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen) |
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Life sciences medicine and health care |
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Life sciences medicine and health care Bråthen, Kari Anne Lortie, Christopher Data from: A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments |
topic_facet |
Life sciences medicine and health care |
description |
Facilitating effects of benefactor plants on plant species richness have been commonly tested in stressful habitats because competitive effects are assumed to predominate in more productive habitats. Here, we examine this assumption by testing whether benefactor plants can nonetheless be facilitating in competitive environments. We provide a conceptual framework describing how a trait of benefactor plants, canopy height of shrubs, can have a portfolio of facilitative effects on species richness in more competitive environments, and we provide an empirical assessment of this portfolio effect in tundra plant communities. Across tundra plant communities representing an extensive gradient in aboveground live biomass ranging from 11 to above 800 grams per m2, we found that species richness exhibited a humped-back relationship. Increasing canopy height of shrubs to a maximum height of what defines the dwarf shrub tundra, that is 40 cm, consistently and significantly increased species richness along the entire biomass gradient tested. The positive effect of shrub canopy height was not confounded with herbivore intensity, competitive interference or abiotic factors such as bedrock-weathered mineral availability, moisture availability or temperature. However, we cannot rule out that the general presence of large mammalian herbivory may have been central to the positive effect of shrub canopy height in reducing herbivore impacts on species richness. In this study, conceptual and empirical evidence support that increasing canopy height of shrubs facilitates species richness regardless of relative abiotic stress levels within tundra ecosystems. We propose that positive interactions can play an important ecological role in systems where competitive effects are observed or assumed. For tundra plant communities where climate change is currently causing encroachment of shrub species, the effects of increasing canopy height may have unprecedented effects on plant species richness. |
author |
Bråthen, Kari Anne Lortie, Christopher |
author_facet |
Bråthen, Kari Anne Lortie, Christopher |
author_sort |
Bråthen, Kari Anne |
title |
Data from: A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments |
title_short |
Data from: A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments |
title_full |
Data from: A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments |
title_fullStr |
Data from: A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments |
title_full_unstemmed |
Data from: A portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments |
title_sort |
data from: a portfolio effect of shrub canopy height on species richness in both stressful and competitive environments |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-r0-wh1s https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:92504 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_relation |
doi:10.5061/dryad.fd20c/1 doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12458 http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:nl:ui:13-r0-wh1s doi:10.5061/dryad.fd20c https://easy.dans.knaw.nl/ui/datasets/id/easy-dataset:92504 |
op_rights |
OPEN_ACCESS: The data are archived in Easy, they are accessible elsewhere through the DOI https://dans.knaw.nl/en/about/organisation-and-policy/legal-information/DANSLicence.pdf |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.fd20c/110.1111/1365-2435.1245810.5061/dryad.fd20c |
_version_ |
1770274022174490624 |