Elevated carbon dioxide is predicted to promote coexistence among competing species in a trait-based model
Abstract
Differential species responses to atmospheric CO 2 concentration (C a) could lead to quantitative changes in competition among species and community composition, with flow-on effects for ecosystem function. However, there has been little theoretical analysis of how elevated C a (eC a) will affect plant competition, or how composition of plant communities might change. Such theoretical analysis is needed for developing testable hypotheses to frame experimental research. Here, we investigated theoretically how plant competition might change under eC a by implementing two alternative competition theories, resource use theory and resource capture theory, in a plant carbon and nitrogen cycling model. The model makes several novel predictions for the impact of eC a on plant community composition. Using resource use theory, the model predicts that eC a is unlikely to change species dominance in competition, but is likely to increase coexistence among species. Using resource capture theory, the model predicts that eC a may increase community evenness. Collectively, both theories suggest that eC a will favor coexistence and hence that species diversity should increase with eC a. Our theoretical analysis leads to a novel hypothesis for the impact of eC a on plant community composition. In this study, the hypothesis hasmore »
- Authors:
-
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States); Macquarie Univ., North Ryde (Australia)
- Macquarie Univ., North Ryde (Australia); Univ. of Western Sydney, Penrith (Australia)
- Macquarie Univ., North Ryde (Australia); Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Montepellier (France); Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (France)
- Univ. of Western Sydney, Penrith (Australia)
- Univ. of Western Sydney, Penrith (Australia); Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1223042
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1222601; OSTI ID: 1223043
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DP1094791; FG02-96ER62291; FC02-06ER64158; 0322057; 9411972; 0080382; 0620652; 0716587; DOE/DE-FG02-96ER62291
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Ecology and Evolution
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Ecology and Evolution; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-7758
- Publisher:
- Wiley
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; elevated CO2; plant competition; species diversity; species traits
Citation Formats
Ali, Ashehad A., Medlyn, Belinda E., Aubier, Thomas G., Crous, Kristine Y., and Reich, Peter B. Elevated carbon dioxide is predicted to promote coexistence among competing species in a trait-based model. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1002/ece3.1733.
Ali, Ashehad A., Medlyn, Belinda E., Aubier, Thomas G., Crous, Kristine Y., & Reich, Peter B. Elevated carbon dioxide is predicted to promote coexistence among competing species in a trait-based model. United States. doi:10.1002/ece3.1733.
Ali, Ashehad A., Medlyn, Belinda E., Aubier, Thomas G., Crous, Kristine Y., and Reich, Peter B. Tue .
"Elevated carbon dioxide is predicted to promote coexistence among competing species in a trait-based model". United States. doi:10.1002/ece3.1733.
@article{osti_1223042,
title = {Elevated carbon dioxide is predicted to promote coexistence among competing species in a trait-based model},
author = {Ali, Ashehad A. and Medlyn, Belinda E. and Aubier, Thomas G. and Crous, Kristine Y. and Reich, Peter B.},
abstractNote = {Differential species responses to atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca) could lead to quantitative changes in competition among species and community composition, with flow-on effects for ecosystem function. However, there has been little theoretical analysis of how elevated Ca (eCa) will affect plant competition, or how composition of plant communities might change. Such theoretical analysis is needed for developing testable hypotheses to frame experimental research. Here, we investigated theoretically how plant competition might change under eCa by implementing two alternative competition theories, resource use theory and resource capture theory, in a plant carbon and nitrogen cycling model. The model makes several novel predictions for the impact of eCa on plant community composition. Using resource use theory, the model predicts that eCa is unlikely to change species dominance in competition, but is likely to increase coexistence among species. Using resource capture theory, the model predicts that eCa may increase community evenness. Collectively, both theories suggest that eCa will favor coexistence and hence that species diversity should increase with eCa. Our theoretical analysis leads to a novel hypothesis for the impact of eCa on plant community composition. In this study, the hypothesis has potential to help guide the design and interpretation of eCa experiments.},
doi = {10.1002/ece3.1733},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2015},
month = {10}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
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