Functional similarity and competitive symmetry control productivity in mixtures of Mediterranean perennial grasses.

ABSTRACT: Competition is a major factor structuring plant communities and controlling their productivity. The functional similarity between the interacting species and the context resource availability are assumed to be most critical factors that modulate the strength, sign, and outcome of plant competition, yet their roles and interactions are subjected to debate. In a glasshouse experiment, we constructed monocultures and bi-specific cultures of three common perennial grasses of Mediterranean drylands, the short grass Brachypodium retusum and the tussock grasses Stipa tenacissima and Lygeum spartum, and investigated how the functional similarity between these species modulate their interactions and culture productivity under contrasting levels of water availability. Regardless the degree of functi

SUBMITTER: Morcillo L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6707634 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature