Trait convergence and trait divergence in lake phytoplankton reflect community assembly rules.

ABSTRACT: Environmental filtering and limiting similarity are those locally acting processes that influence community structure. These mechanisms acting on the traits of species result in trait convergence or divergence within the communities. The role of these processes might change along environmental gradients, and it has been conceptualised in the stress-dominance hypothesis, which predicts that the relative importance of environmental filtering increases and competition decreases with increasing environmental stress. Analysing trait convergence and divergence in lake phytoplankton assemblages, we studied how the concepts of 'limiting similarity' versus 'environmental filtering' can be applied to these microscopic aquatic communities, and how they support or contradict the stress-dominance hypot

SUBMITTER: Borics G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7658209 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature