Trait-mediated assembly processes predict successional changes in community diversity of tropical forests.

ABSTRACT: Interspecific differences in relative fitness can cause local dominance by a single species. However, stabilizing interspecific niche differences can promote local diversity. Understanding these mechanisms requires that we simultaneously quantify their effects on demography and link these effects to community dynamics. Successional forests are ideal systems for testing assembly theory because they exhibit rapid community assembly. Here, we leverage functional trait and long-term demographic data to build spatially explicit models of successional community dynamics of lowland rainforests in Costa Rica. First, we ask what the effects and relative importance of four trait-mediated community assembly processes are on tree survival, a major component of fitness. We model trait correlations with

SUBMITTER: Lasky JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3992673 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature