Competition from below for light and nutrients shifts productivity among tropical species.

ABSTRACT: Chance events such as seed dispersal determine the potential composition of plant communities, but the eventual assemblage is determined in large part by subsequent interactions among species. Postcolonization sorting also affects the ultimate composition of communities assembled by people for restoration, horticulture, or conservation. Thus, knowledge of the mechanisms controlling interspecific interactions in plant communities is important for explaining patterns observed in nature and predicting success or failure of utilitarian combinations. Relationships among species, especially those from studies of biological diversity and ecosystem functioning, are largely based on studies of short-lived, temperate-zone plants. Extrapolation to perennial plants in the humid tropics is risky becaus

SUBMITTER: Ewel JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2596203 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature