Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1111/ele.12910
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Identifying mechanisms that structure ecological communities by snapping model parameters to empirically observed tradeoffs
Author Clark, A.T.; Lehman, C.; Tilman, D.
Source Titel Ecology Letters
Year 2018
Department iDiv; PHYDIV
Volume 21
Issue 4
Page From 494
Page To 505
Language englisch
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Keywords Cedar Creek, coexistence mechanism, ecological community, grassland ecology, LTER, mechanis- tic model, predictive model, resource competition, tradeoff.
UFZ wide themes RU1;
Abstract Theory predicts that interspecific tradeoffs are primary determinants of coexistence and community composition. Using information from empirically observed tradeoffs to augment the parametrisation of mechanism‐based models should therefore improve model predictions, provided that tradeoffs and mechanisms are chosen correctly. We developed and tested such a model for 35 grassland plant species using monoculture measurements of three species characteristics related to nitrogen uptake and retention, which previous experiments indicate as important at our site. Matching classical theoretical expectations, these characteristics defined a distinct tradeoff surface, and models parameterised with these characteristics closely matched observations from experimental multi‐species mixtures. Importantly, predictions improved significantly when we incorporated information from tradeoffs by ‘snapping’ characteristics to the nearest location on the tradeoff surface, suggesting that the tradeoffs and mechanisms we identify are important determinants of local community structure. This ‘snapping’ method could therefore constitute a broadly applicable test for identifying influential tradeoffs and mechanisms.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=20065
Clark, A.T., Lehman, C., Tilman, D. (2018):
Identifying mechanisms that structure ecological communities by snapping model parameters to empirically observed tradeoffs
Ecol. Lett. 21 (4), 494 - 505 10.1111/ele.12910