Shrubs indirectly increase desert seedbanks through facilitation of the plant community.

ABSTRACT: The mechanisms supporting positive ecological interactions are important. Foundation species can structure desert biodiversity by facilitating seedbanks of annual plants, but the direct and indirect mechanisms of shrub effects on seedbank have not been experimentally decoupled. We conducted the first test of shrubs increasing seedbank densities through direct effects on the seedbank (i.e. shrub seed-trapping, animal-mediated dispersal) and indirect effects by facilitating the annual plant community (i.e. seed deposition, annual seed-trapping). Two distinct desert ecosystems were used to contrast transient seedbank densities in shrub and open microsites by manipulating annual plant density and the presence of the persistent seedbank. We measured transient seedbank densities at the end of th

SUBMITTER: Filazzola A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6481865 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature