Temporal effects of disturbance on community composition in simulated stage‐structured plant communities

Wang, Youshi; Wen, Shujun; Farnon Ellwood, M. D.; Miller, Adam D.; Chu, Chengjin

doi:10.1002/ece3.3660

Temporal effects of disturbance on community composition in simulated stage‐structured plant communities

Journal Article · Thu Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Ecology and Evolution

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3660· OSTI ID:1410185

Wang, Youshi ^[1]; Wen, Shujun ^[2]; Farnon Ellwood, M. D. ^[3]; Miller, Adam D. ^[4]; ^[1]

SYSU‐Alberta Joint Lab for Biodiversity Conservation Department of Ecology State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and School of Life Sciences Sun Yat‐sen University Guangzhou China
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Conservation and Restoration Ecology in Karst Terrain Guangxi Institute of Botany Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chinese Academy of Sciences Guilin China
Centre for Research in Biosciences University of the West of England Bristol UK
Conservation Ecology Center Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute National Zoological Park Front Royal VA USA, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana IL USA

Abstract

In an era of global environmental change, understanding how disturbance affects the dynamics of ecological communities is crucial. However, few studies have theoretically explored the potential influence of disturbance including both intensity and frequency on compositional change over time in communities with stage structure. A spatially explicit, individual‐based model was constructed incorporating the various demographic responses to disturbance of plants at two different growth stages: seedlings and adults. In the model, we assumed that individuals within each stage were demographically equivalent (neutral) but differed between stages. We simulated a common phenomenon that seedlings suffered more from disturbance such as grazing and fire than adults. We showed how stage‐structured communities of seedlings and adults responded to disturbance with various levels of disturbance frequency and intensity. In “undisturbed” simulations, the relationship between average species abundance (defined here as the total number of individuals divided by species richness) and community composition turnover (measured by the Bray–Curtis similarity index) was asymptotic. However, in strongly “disturbed” simulations with the between‐disturbance intervals greater than one, this relationship became unimodal. Stage‐dependent response to disturbance underlay the above discrepancy between undisturbed and disturbed communities.

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Research Organization:: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (United States); Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0008085; SC0010039

OSTI ID:: 1410185

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1508772
OSTI ID: 1410357

Journal Information:: Ecology and Evolution, Journal Name: Ecology and Evolution Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 8; ISSN 2045-7758

Publisher:: Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
compositional change
grid-based model
individual-based model
neutral model
stage structure

Temporal effects of disturbance on community composition in simulated stage‐structured plant communities

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