TY - JOUR

T1 - Priority effects of time of arrival of plant functional groups override sowing interval or density effects

T2 - A grassland experiment

AU - Von Gillhaussen, Philipp

AU - Rascher, Uwe

AU - Jablonowski, Nicolai D.

AU - Plückers, Christine

AU - Beierkuhnlein, Carl

AU - Temperton, Victoria Martine

PY - 2014/1/31

Y1 - 2014/1/31

N2 - Priority effects occur when species that arrive first in a habitat significantly affect the establishment, growth, or reproduction of species arriving later and thus affect functioning of communities. However, we know little about how the timing of arrival of functionally different species may alter structure and function during assembly. Even less is known about how plant density might interact with initial assembly. In a greenhouse experiment legumes, grasses or forbs were sown a number of weeks before the other two plant functional types were sown (PFT) in combination with a sowing density treatment. Legumes, grasses or non-legume forbs were sown first at three different density levels followed by sowing of the remaining PFTs after three or six-weeks. We found that the order of arrival of different plant functional types had a much stronger influence on aboveground productivity than sowing density or interval between the sowing events. The sowing of legumes before the other PFTs produced the highest aboveground biomass. The larger sowing interval led to higher asymmetric competition, with highest dominance of the PFT sown first. It seems that legumes were better able to get a head-start and be productive before the later groups arrived, but that their traits allowed for better subsequent establishment of non-legume PFTs. Our study indicates that the manipulation of the order of arrival can create priority effects which favour functional groups of plants differently and thus induce different assembly routes and affect community composition and functioning.

AB - Priority effects occur when species that arrive first in a habitat significantly affect the establishment, growth, or reproduction of species arriving later and thus affect functioning of communities. However, we know little about how the timing of arrival of functionally different species may alter structure and function during assembly. Even less is known about how plant density might interact with initial assembly. In a greenhouse experiment legumes, grasses or forbs were sown a number of weeks before the other two plant functional types were sown (PFT) in combination with a sowing density treatment. Legumes, grasses or non-legume forbs were sown first at three different density levels followed by sowing of the remaining PFTs after three or six-weeks. We found that the order of arrival of different plant functional types had a much stronger influence on aboveground productivity than sowing density or interval between the sowing events. The sowing of legumes before the other PFTs produced the highest aboveground biomass. The larger sowing interval led to higher asymmetric competition, with highest dominance of the PFT sown first. It seems that legumes were better able to get a head-start and be productive before the later groups arrived, but that their traits allowed for better subsequent establishment of non-legume PFTs. Our study indicates that the manipulation of the order of arrival can create priority effects which favour functional groups of plants differently and thus induce different assembly routes and affect community composition and functioning.

KW - Biology

KW - Sustainability Science

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84900308920&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/7ded0518-8b4b-3fb8-bcf0-32cbd3e163bb/

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0086906

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0086906

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 24497995

AN - SCOPUS:84900308920

VL - 9

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 1

M1 - e86906

ER -