Benefit of shading by nurse plant does not change along a stress gradient in a coastal dune.

ABSTRACT: The proximity of adult neighbors often increases the performance of woody seedlings under harsh environmental conditions but this nurse plant effect becomes less intense when abiotic stress is alleviated, as predicted by the stress gradient hypothesis (SGH). Although some studies have tested how the net nurse effect is changed by stress, few studies have tested how the mechanism that drives the facilitative effect of nurse responds to changes in stress. We conducted field experiments in a subtropical coastal dune to test if shading drives the known nurse effect of adults of the tree Guapira opposita on seedling performance of another tree species, Ternstroemia brasiliensis. We transplanted T. brasiliensis seedlings to three neighbor environments: under a G. opposita crown, under artificial

SUBMITTER: Castanho Cde T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4134255 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature