Functional diversity and coexistence of herbaceous plants in wet, species-rich savannas.

ABSTRACT: Trait differences among plant species can favor species coexistence. The role that such differences play in the assembly of diverse plant communities maintained by frequent fires remains unresolved. This lack of resolution results in part from the possibility that species with similar traits may coexist because none has a significant fitness advantage and in part from the difficulty of experimental manipulation of highly diverse assemblages dominated by perennial species. We examined a 65-year chronosequence of losses of herbaceous species following fire suppression (and subsequent encroachment by Pinus elliottii) in three wet longleaf pine savannas. We used cluster analysis, similarity profile permutation tests, and k-R cluster analysis to identify statistically significant functio

SUBMITTER: Brewer JS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8131808 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature