More closely related species are more ecologically similar in an experimental test.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between phylogenetic distance and ecological similarity is key to understanding mechanisms of community assembly, a central goal of ecology. The field of community phylogenetics uses phylogenetic information to infer mechanisms of community assembly; we explore, the underlying relationship between phylogenetic similarity and the niche. We combined a field experiment using 32 native plant species with a molecular phylogeny and found that closely related plant species shared similar germination and early survival niches. Species also competed more with close relatives than with distant relatives in field soils; however, in potting soil this pattern reversed, and close relatives might even have more mutalistic relationships than distant relatives in these soils. Our results s

SUBMITTER: Burns JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3069184 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature