Does extreme environmental severity promote plant facilitation? An experimental field test in a subtropical coastal dune

Oecologia
Camila T CastanhoPaulo Inácio K L Prado

Abstract

The stress gradient hypothesis (SGH) postulates how the balance between plant competition and facilitation shifts along environmental gradients. Early formulations of the SGH predicted that facilitation should increase monotonically with stress. However, a recent theoretical refinement of the SGH postulates stronger facilitation under moderate stress, followed by a decreasing role of facilitation in the most severe environments. We conducted field experiments along the most severe part of a coastal dune gradient in southeast Brazil to test the effect of stress on the intensity and importance of the net interactions between two tree species. First, we compared the performance of distinct life stages of Ternstroemia brasiliensis in the presence and absence of Guapira opposita adults along a beach-to-inland gradient, a gradient of environmental severity. To test the effect of one stress factor in particular, we also manipulated water availability, a limiting resource due to the sandy soils. At the most severe part of the coastal gradient (i.e. closest to the seashore), both intensity and importance of the interaction between G. opposita and T. brasiliensis were negatively related to stress, with a pattern consistent across distinc...Continue Reading

References

Mar 1, 1986·The Quarterly Review of Biology·C W Welden, W L Slauson
Jun 21, 2002·Nature·Ragan M CallawayBradley J Cook
Aug 10, 2007·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Takashi Kawai, Mutsunori Tokeshi
May 1, 1994·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·M D Bertness, R Callaway
May 10, 2011·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Zaal KikvidzeRob Brooker
Aug 16, 2014·PloS One·Camila de Toledo Castanho, Paulo Inácio Prado

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Citations

Jun 26, 2018·Ecology and Evolution·Mário L GarbinAry G Silva

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