Competition contributes to both warm and cool range edges.

ABSTRACT: Competition plays an important role in shaping species' spatial distributions. However, it remains unclear where and how competition regulates species' range limits. In a field experiment with plants originating from low and high elevations and conducted across an elevation gradient in the Swiss Alps, we find that both lowland and highland species can better persist in the presence of competition within, rather than beyond, their elevation ranges. These findings suggest that competition helps set both lower and upper elevation range limits of these species. Furthermore, the reduced ability of pairs of lowland or highland species to coexist beyond their range edges is mainly driven by diminishing niche differences; changes in both niche differences and relative fitness differences drive wea

SUBMITTER: Lyu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9076896 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature