TY - CHAP

T1 - Estimating plant competition coefficients and predicting community dynamics from non-destructive pin-point data

T2 - A case study with Calluna vulgaris and Deschampsia flexuosa

AU - Damgaard, Christian

AU - Riis-Nielsen, Torben

AU - Schmidt, Inger Kappel

PY - 2009/12/1

Y1 - 2009/12/1

N2 - A method is proposed for estimating plant competition coefficients and predicting the dynamics of herb and grassland plant communities from non-destructive pin-point measurements. The method is applied to inter-specific competition in a natural heathland community with relatively few interacting species. The study shows that the dynamics of the heathland plant community may be thought of as essentially a two-species system of Calluna vulgaris and Deschampsia flexuosa. There were significant competitive interactions between C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa. D. flexuosa affected both the cover and compactness of C. vulgaris individuals as a function of the compactness the previous year, whereas C. vulgaris significantly affected only the compactness of D. flexuosa. There was a significant negative effect of drought on the compactness of both C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa individuals, whereas night warming had no significant effects on either species. The predicted long-term outcome of the competitive interaction between C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa was that of unstable equilibrium, where the more dominant of the two will outcompete the other. However, when both species are found at relatively high plant covers the two species are predicted to co-exist for a long time period relatively to the time scale of the ageing process of C. vulgaris. Direct analyses of the inter-specific competitive interactions in natural plant communities with non-destructive measurements can provide important new insight into the processes that determine the composition of plant communities.

AB - A method is proposed for estimating plant competition coefficients and predicting the dynamics of herb and grassland plant communities from non-destructive pin-point measurements. The method is applied to inter-specific competition in a natural heathland community with relatively few interacting species. The study shows that the dynamics of the heathland plant community may be thought of as essentially a two-species system of Calluna vulgaris and Deschampsia flexuosa. There were significant competitive interactions between C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa. D. flexuosa affected both the cover and compactness of C. vulgaris individuals as a function of the compactness the previous year, whereas C. vulgaris significantly affected only the compactness of D. flexuosa. There was a significant negative effect of drought on the compactness of both C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa individuals, whereas night warming had no significant effects on either species. The predicted long-term outcome of the competitive interaction between C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa was that of unstable equilibrium, where the more dominant of the two will outcompete the other. However, when both species are found at relatively high plant covers the two species are predicted to co-exist for a long time period relatively to the time scale of the ageing process of C. vulgaris. Direct analyses of the inter-specific competitive interactions in natural plant communities with non-destructive measurements can provide important new insight into the processes that determine the composition of plant communities.

KW - Heathland

KW - Plant competition model

KW - Point-intercept

KW - Succession

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84906800709&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-90-481-2798-6_27

DO - 10.1007/978-90-481-2798-6_27

M3 - Book chapter

AN - SCOPUS:84906800709

SN - 9789048127979

SP - 323

EP - 333

BT - Herbaceous Plant Ecology

PB - Springer Netherlands

ER -