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Nothing lasts forever: Dominant species decline under rapid environmental change in global grasslands

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Standard

Nothing lasts forever: Dominant species decline under rapid environmental change in global grasslands. / Wilfahrt, Peter A.; Seabloom, Eric W.; Bakker, Jonathan D. et al.
In: Journal of Ecology, Vol. 111, No. 11, 11.2023, p. 2472-2482.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Wilfahrt, PA, Seabloom, EW, Bakker, JD, Biederman, L, Bugalho, MN, Cadotte, MW, Caldeira, MC, Catford, JA, Chen, Q, Donohue, I, Ebeling, A, Eisenhauer, N, Haider, S, Heckman, RW, Jentsch, A, Koerner, SE, Komatsu, KJ, Laungani, R, MacDougall, A, Martina, JP, Martinson, H, Moore, JL, Niu, Y, Ohlert, T, Venterink, HO, Orr, D, Peri, P, Pos, E, Price, J, Raynaud, X, Ren, Z, Roscher, C, Smith, NG, Stevens, CJ, Sullivan, LL, Tedder, M, Tognetti, PM, Veen, C, Wheeler, G, Young, AL, Young, H & Borer, ET 2023, 'Nothing lasts forever: Dominant species decline under rapid environmental change in global grasslands', Journal of Ecology, vol. 111, no. 11, pp. 2472-2482. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14198

APA

Wilfahrt, P. A., Seabloom, E. W., Bakker, J. D., Biederman, L., Bugalho, M. N., Cadotte, M. W., Caldeira, M. C., Catford, J. A., Chen, Q., Donohue, I., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Haider, S., Heckman, R. W., Jentsch, A., Koerner, S. E., Komatsu, K. J., Laungani, R., MacDougall, A., ... Borer, E. T. (2023). Nothing lasts forever: Dominant species decline under rapid environmental change in global grasslands. Journal of Ecology, 111(11), 2472-2482. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14198

Vancouver

Wilfahrt PA, Seabloom EW, Bakker JD, Biederman L, Bugalho MN, Cadotte MW et al. Nothing lasts forever: Dominant species decline under rapid environmental change in global grasslands. Journal of Ecology. 2023 Nov;111(11):2472-2482. Epub 2023 Sept 23. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.14198

Bibtex

@article{e0a88aebb1a54f4db3feaa51c69d6ffc,
title = "Nothing lasts forever: Dominant species decline under rapid environmental change in global grasslands",
abstract = "Dominance often indicates one or a few species being best suited for resource capture and retention in a given environment. Press perturbations that change availability of limiting resources can restructure competitive hierarchies, allowing new species to capture or retain resources and leaving once dominant species fated to decline. However, dominant species may maintain high abundances even when their new environments no longer favour them due to stochastic processes associated with their high abundance, impeding deterministic processes that would otherwise diminish them. Here, we quantify the persistence of dominance by tracking the rate of decline in dominant species at 90 globally distributed grassland sites under experimentally elevated soil nutrient supply and reduced vertebrate consumer pressure. We found that chronic experimental nutrient addition and vertebrate exclusion caused certain subsets of species to lose dominance more quickly than in control plots. In control plots, perennial species and species with high initial cover maintained dominance for longer than annual species and those with low initial cover respectively. In fertilized plots, species with high initial cover maintained dominance at similar rates to control plots, while those with lower initial cover lost dominance even faster than similar species in controls. High initial cover increased the estimated time to dominance loss more strongly in plots with vertebrate exclosures than in controls. Vertebrate exclosures caused a slight decrease in the persistence of dominance for perennials, while fertilization brought perennials' rate of dominance loss in line with those of annuals. Annual species lost dominance at similar rates regardless of treatments. Synthesis. Collectively, these results point to a strong role of a species' historical abundance in maintaining dominance following environmental perturbations. Because dominant species play an outsized role in driving ecosystem processes, their ability to remain dominant—regardless of environmental conditions—is critical to anticipating expected rates of change in the structure and function of grasslands. Species that maintain dominance while no longer competitively favoured following press perturbations due to their historical abundances may result in community compositions that do not maximize resource capture, a key process of system responses to global change.",
keywords = "determinants of plant community diversity and structure, dominance, fertilization, global change ecology, historical contigency, plant population and community dynamics, plant–herbivore interactions, Biology",
author = "Wilfahrt, {Peter A.} and Seabloom, {Eric W.} and Bakker, {Jonathan D.} and Lori Biederman and Bugalho, {Miguel N.} and Cadotte, {Marc W.} and Caldeira, {Maria C.} and Catford, {Jane A.} and Qingqing Chen and Ian Donohue and Anne Ebeling and Nico Eisenhauer and Sylvia Haider and Heckman, {Robert W.} and Anke Jentsch and Koerner, {Sally E.} and Komatsu, {Kimberly J.} and Ramesh Laungani and Andrew MacDougall and Martina, {Jason P.} and Holly Martinson and Moore, {Joslin L.} and Yujie Niu and Timothy Ohlert and Venterink, {Harry Olde} and Devyn Orr and Pablo Peri and Edwin Pos and Jodi Price and Xavier Raynaud and Zhengwei Ren and Christiane Roscher and Smith, {Nicholas G.} and Stevens, {Carly J.} and Sullivan, {Lauren L.} and Michelle Tedder and Tognetti, {Pedro M.} and Ciska Veen and George Wheeler and Young, {Alyssa L.} and Hillary Young and Borer, {Elizabeth T.}",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors. Journal of Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.",
year = "2023",
month = nov,
doi = "10.1111/1365-2745.14198",
language = "English",
volume = "111",
pages = "2472--2482",
journal = "Journal of Ecology",
issn = "0022-0477",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.",
number = "11",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Nothing lasts forever: Dominant species decline under rapid environmental change in global grasslands

AU - Wilfahrt, Peter A.

AU - Seabloom, Eric W.

AU - Bakker, Jonathan D.

AU - Biederman, Lori

AU - Bugalho, Miguel N.

AU - Cadotte, Marc W.

AU - Caldeira, Maria C.

AU - Catford, Jane A.

AU - Chen, Qingqing

AU - Donohue, Ian

AU - Ebeling, Anne

AU - Eisenhauer, Nico

AU - Haider, Sylvia

AU - Heckman, Robert W.

AU - Jentsch, Anke

AU - Koerner, Sally E.

AU - Komatsu, Kimberly J.

AU - Laungani, Ramesh

AU - MacDougall, Andrew

AU - Martina, Jason P.

AU - Martinson, Holly

AU - Moore, Joslin L.

AU - Niu, Yujie

AU - Ohlert, Timothy

AU - Venterink, Harry Olde

AU - Orr, Devyn

AU - Peri, Pablo

AU - Pos, Edwin

AU - Price, Jodi

AU - Raynaud, Xavier

AU - Ren, Zhengwei

AU - Roscher, Christiane

AU - Smith, Nicholas G.

AU - Stevens, Carly J.

AU - Sullivan, Lauren L.

AU - Tedder, Michelle

AU - Tognetti, Pedro M.

AU - Veen, Ciska

AU - Wheeler, George

AU - Young, Alyssa L.

AU - Young, Hillary

AU - Borer, Elizabeth T.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

PY - 2023/11

Y1 - 2023/11

N2 - Dominance often indicates one or a few species being best suited for resource capture and retention in a given environment. Press perturbations that change availability of limiting resources can restructure competitive hierarchies, allowing new species to capture or retain resources and leaving once dominant species fated to decline. However, dominant species may maintain high abundances even when their new environments no longer favour them due to stochastic processes associated with their high abundance, impeding deterministic processes that would otherwise diminish them. Here, we quantify the persistence of dominance by tracking the rate of decline in dominant species at 90 globally distributed grassland sites under experimentally elevated soil nutrient supply and reduced vertebrate consumer pressure. We found that chronic experimental nutrient addition and vertebrate exclusion caused certain subsets of species to lose dominance more quickly than in control plots. In control plots, perennial species and species with high initial cover maintained dominance for longer than annual species and those with low initial cover respectively. In fertilized plots, species with high initial cover maintained dominance at similar rates to control plots, while those with lower initial cover lost dominance even faster than similar species in controls. High initial cover increased the estimated time to dominance loss more strongly in plots with vertebrate exclosures than in controls. Vertebrate exclosures caused a slight decrease in the persistence of dominance for perennials, while fertilization brought perennials' rate of dominance loss in line with those of annuals. Annual species lost dominance at similar rates regardless of treatments. Synthesis. Collectively, these results point to a strong role of a species' historical abundance in maintaining dominance following environmental perturbations. Because dominant species play an outsized role in driving ecosystem processes, their ability to remain dominant—regardless of environmental conditions—is critical to anticipating expected rates of change in the structure and function of grasslands. Species that maintain dominance while no longer competitively favoured following press perturbations due to their historical abundances may result in community compositions that do not maximize resource capture, a key process of system responses to global change.

AB - Dominance often indicates one or a few species being best suited for resource capture and retention in a given environment. Press perturbations that change availability of limiting resources can restructure competitive hierarchies, allowing new species to capture or retain resources and leaving once dominant species fated to decline. However, dominant species may maintain high abundances even when their new environments no longer favour them due to stochastic processes associated with their high abundance, impeding deterministic processes that would otherwise diminish them. Here, we quantify the persistence of dominance by tracking the rate of decline in dominant species at 90 globally distributed grassland sites under experimentally elevated soil nutrient supply and reduced vertebrate consumer pressure. We found that chronic experimental nutrient addition and vertebrate exclusion caused certain subsets of species to lose dominance more quickly than in control plots. In control plots, perennial species and species with high initial cover maintained dominance for longer than annual species and those with low initial cover respectively. In fertilized plots, species with high initial cover maintained dominance at similar rates to control plots, while those with lower initial cover lost dominance even faster than similar species in controls. High initial cover increased the estimated time to dominance loss more strongly in plots with vertebrate exclosures than in controls. Vertebrate exclosures caused a slight decrease in the persistence of dominance for perennials, while fertilization brought perennials' rate of dominance loss in line with those of annuals. Annual species lost dominance at similar rates regardless of treatments. Synthesis. Collectively, these results point to a strong role of a species' historical abundance in maintaining dominance following environmental perturbations. Because dominant species play an outsized role in driving ecosystem processes, their ability to remain dominant—regardless of environmental conditions—is critical to anticipating expected rates of change in the structure and function of grasslands. Species that maintain dominance while no longer competitively favoured following press perturbations due to their historical abundances may result in community compositions that do not maximize resource capture, a key process of system responses to global change.

KW - determinants of plant community diversity and structure

KW - dominance

KW - fertilization

KW - global change ecology

KW - historical contigency

KW - plant population and community dynamics

KW - plant–herbivore interactions

KW - Biology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85171849575&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/dcdbe0d9-6281-34c4-9b16-e26b926c6387/

U2 - 10.1111/1365-2745.14198

DO - 10.1111/1365-2745.14198

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85171849575

VL - 111

SP - 2472

EP - 2482

JO - Journal of Ecology

JF - Journal of Ecology

SN - 0022-0477

IS - 11

ER -

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DOI