Strong microsite control of seedling recruitment in tundra
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Strong microsite control of seedling recruitment in tundra. / Graae, Bente J; Ejrnæs, Rasmus; Lang, Simone I; Meineri, Eric; Ibarra, Pablo T; Bruun, Hans Henrik.
In: Oecologia, Vol. 166, No. 2, 2011, p. 565-76.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Strong microsite control of seedling recruitment in tundra
AU - Graae, Bente J
AU - Ejrnæs, Rasmus
AU - Lang, Simone I
AU - Meineri, Eric
AU - Ibarra, Pablo T
AU - Bruun, Hans Henrik
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - The inclusion of environmental variation in studies of recruitment is a prerequisite for realistic predictions of the responses of vegetation to a changing environment. We investigated how seedling recruitment is affected by seed availability and microsite quality along a steep environmental gradient in dry tundra. A survey of natural seed rain and seedling density in vegetation was combined with observations of the establishment of 14 species after sowing into intact or disturbed vegetation. Although seed rain density was closely correlated with natural seedling establishment, the experimental seed addition showed that the microsite environment was even more important. For all species, seedling emergence peaked at the productive end of the gradient, irrespective of the adult niches realized. Disturbance promoted recruitment at all positions along the environmental gradient, not just at high productivity. Early seedling emergence constituted the main temporal bottleneck in recruitment for all species. Surprisingly, winter mortality was highest at what appeared to be the most benign end of the gradient. The results highlight that seedling recruitment patterns are largely determined by the earliest stages in seedling emergence, which again are closely linked to microsite quality. A fuller understanding of microsite effects on recruitment with implications for plant community assembly and vegetation change is provided.
AB - The inclusion of environmental variation in studies of recruitment is a prerequisite for realistic predictions of the responses of vegetation to a changing environment. We investigated how seedling recruitment is affected by seed availability and microsite quality along a steep environmental gradient in dry tundra. A survey of natural seed rain and seedling density in vegetation was combined with observations of the establishment of 14 species after sowing into intact or disturbed vegetation. Although seed rain density was closely correlated with natural seedling establishment, the experimental seed addition showed that the microsite environment was even more important. For all species, seedling emergence peaked at the productive end of the gradient, irrespective of the adult niches realized. Disturbance promoted recruitment at all positions along the environmental gradient, not just at high productivity. Early seedling emergence constituted the main temporal bottleneck in recruitment for all species. Surprisingly, winter mortality was highest at what appeared to be the most benign end of the gradient. The results highlight that seedling recruitment patterns are largely determined by the earliest stages in seedling emergence, which again are closely linked to microsite quality. A fuller understanding of microsite effects on recruitment with implications for plant community assembly and vegetation change is provided.
KW - Environment
KW - Introduced Species
KW - Microclimate
KW - Population Density
KW - Seedling
KW - Seeds
KW - Sweden
U2 - 10.1007/s00442-010-1878-8
DO - 10.1007/s00442-010-1878-8
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 21170749
VL - 166
SP - 565
EP - 576
JO - Oecologia
JF - Oecologia
SN - 0029-8519
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 37840496