Interspecific competition in plants: how well do current methods answer fundamental questions?

The American Naturalist
J ConnollyF A Bazzaz

Abstract

Accurately quantifying and interpreting the processes and outcomes of competition among plants is essential for evaluating theories of plant community organization and evolution. We argue that many current experimental approaches to quantifying competitive interactions introduce size bias, which may significantly impact the quantitative and qualitative conclusions drawn from studies. Size bias generally arises when estimates of competitive ability are erroneously influenced by the initial size of competing individuals. We employ a series of quantitative thought experiments to demonstrate the potential for size bias in analysis of four traditional experimental designs (pairwise, replacement series, additive series, and response surfaces) either when only final measurements are available or when both initial and final measurements are collected. We distinguish three questions relevant to describing competitive interactions: Which species dominates? Which species gains? and How do species affect each other? The choice of experimental design and measurements greatly influences the scope of inference permitted. Conditions under which the latter two questions can give biased information are tabulated. We outline a new approach to cha...Continue Reading

References

Feb 1, 1996·Australian and New Zealand Journal of Medicine·B G Robinson
Aug 1, 1988·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·M J Hutchings
Nov 1, 1990·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·J Weiner

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Citations

Oct 18, 2005·Photochemistry and Photobiology·Nancy H FurnessMahesh K Upadhyaya
Aug 22, 2009·Ecology·Daniel S GrunerDonald R Strong
Jan 3, 2006·Plant Biology·R MatyssekD Treutter
Jun 14, 2005·The New Phytologist·Alessandra R KozovitsThorsten E E Grams
Oct 10, 2007·Ecology Letters·W Stanley Harpole, Katharine N Suding
Jan 13, 2012·The New Phytologist·Clare TrinderDavid Robinson

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