Contrasting effects of intraspecific trait variation on trait-based niches and performance of legumes in plant mixtures.

ABSTRACT: Niche differentiation, assumed to be a key mechanism of species coexistence, requires that species differ in their functional traits. So far it remains unclear to which extent trait plasticity leads to niche shifts of species at higher plant diversity, thereby increasing or decreasing niche overlap between species. To analyse this question it is convenient to measure niches indirectly via the variation in resource-uptake traits rather than directly via the resources used. We provisionally call these indirectly measured niches trait-based niches. We studied shoot- and leaf-morphological characteristics in seven legume species in monoculture and multi-species mixture in experimental grassland. Legume species varied in the extent of trait variation in response to plant diversity. Trait plasti

SUBMITTER: Roscher C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4363318 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature