Light partitioning in experimental grass communities
| Autor: | Shigeo Yachi, Michel Loreau, Andy Hector, Eva Spehn, Eva Vojtech |
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| Přispěvatelé: | University of Zurich, Vojtech, E |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Canopy
Ecological niche Biomass (ecology) Ecology media_common.quotation_subject Niche differentiation Interspecific competition Biology Competition (biology) 10127 Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies 1105 Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 570 Life sciences biology 590 Animals (Zoology) Monoculture Interception Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics media_common |
| Popis: | Through complementary use of canopy space in mixtures, aboveground niche separation has the potential to promote species coexistence and increase productivity of mixtures as compared to monocultures. We set up an experiment with five perennial grass species which differed in height and their ability to compete for light to test whether plants partition light under conditions where it is a limiting resource, and if this resource partitioning leads to increased biomass production in mixtures (using relative yield-based methods). Further, we present the first application of a new model of light competition in plant communities. We show that under conditions where biomass production was high and light a limiting resource, only a minority of mixtures outperformed monocultures and overyielding was slight. The observed overyielding could not be explained by species differences in canopy structure and height in monoculture and was also not related to changes in the canopy traits of species when grown in mixture rather than monoculture. However, where overyielding occurred, it was associated with higher biomass density and light interception. In the new model of competition for light, greater light use complementarity was related to increased total energy absorption. Future work should address whether greater canopy space-filling is a cause or consequence of overyielding. © 2008 The Authors. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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