Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Life-history constraints in grassland plant species
T2 - a growth-defence trade-off is the norm
AU - Lind, Eric M.
AU - Borer, Elizabeth
AU - Seabloom, Eric
AU - Adler, Peter
AU - Bakker, Jonathan D.
AU - Blumenthal, Dana M.
AU - Crawley, Mick
AU - Davies, Kendi
AU - Firn, Jennifer
AU - Gruner, Daniel S.
AU - Stanley Harpole, W.
AU - Hautier, Yann
AU - Hillebrand, Helmut
AU - Knops, Johannes
AU - Melbourne, Brett
AU - Mortensen, Brent
AU - Risch, Anita C.
AU - Schuetz, Martin
AU - Stevens, Carly
AU - Wragg, Peter D.
A2 - Van Der Putten, Wim
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - Plant growth can be limited by resource acquisition and defence against consumers, leading to contrasting trade-off possibilities. The competition-defence hypothesis posits a trade-off between competitive ability and defence against enemies (e.g. herbivores and pathogens). The growth-defence hypothesis suggests that strong competitors for nutrients are also defended against enemies, at a cost to growth rate. We tested these hypotheses using observations of 706 plant populations of over 500 species before and following identical fertilisation and fencing treatments at 39 grassland sites worldwide. Strong positive covariance in species responses to both treatments provided support for a growth-defence trade-off: populations that increased with the removal of nutrient limitation (poor competitors) also increased following removal of consumers. This result held globally across 4 years within plant life-history groups and within the majority of individual sites. Thus, a growth-defence trade-off appears to be the norm, and mechanisms maintaining grassland biodiversity may operate within this constraint.
AB - Plant growth can be limited by resource acquisition and defence against consumers, leading to contrasting trade-off possibilities. The competition-defence hypothesis posits a trade-off between competitive ability and defence against enemies (e.g. herbivores and pathogens). The growth-defence hypothesis suggests that strong competitors for nutrients are also defended against enemies, at a cost to growth rate. We tested these hypotheses using observations of 706 plant populations of over 500 species before and following identical fertilisation and fencing treatments at 39 grassland sites worldwide. Strong positive covariance in species responses to both treatments provided support for a growth-defence trade-off: populations that increased with the removal of nutrient limitation (poor competitors) also increased following removal of consumers. This result held globally across 4 years within plant life-history groups and within the majority of individual sites. Thus, a growth-defence trade-off appears to be the norm, and mechanisms maintaining grassland biodiversity may operate within this constraint.
KW - Coexistence
KW - competition-defence hypothesis
KW - life history
KW - mammalian herbivory
KW - Nutrient Network (NutNet)
KW - resource limitation
KW - tolerance
KW - top-down bottom-up
KW - trade-offs
U2 - 10.1111/ele.12078
DO - 10.1111/ele.12078
M3 - Journal article
VL - 16
SP - 513
EP - 521
JO - Ecology Letters
JF - Ecology Letters
SN - 1461-023X
IS - 4
ER -