Community level trait patterns are detectable even along short stress gradients but not readily predictable under very limited soil resources.

ABSTRACT: To date, the stress-dominance hypothesis has not been tested along short gradients of very limited soil resources, like those encountered on rocky cliffs and walls. Under such conditions, the plant trait structure may be primarily driven by either environmental filtering or limiting similarity, depending (among others) on the net outcome of interspecific competition. Therefore, we aimed to reveal community-wide trait patterns induced by the two opposing processes that were hypothesized to govern the assembly of 39 seral chasmophytic communities, while controlling for their regional grouping. Eleven qualitative traits were employed to test their dependency on abiotic variables and variation in their dispersion along the combined (soil nutrient/water) stress gradient. There was strong eviden

SUBMITTER: Gafta D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12540709 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature