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103 results for “Trait composition”

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dryad36/100

The influence of predator community composition on photoprotective traits of copepods

Trait expression of natural populations often jointly depends on prevailing abiotic environmental conditions and predation risk. Copepods, for example, can vary their expression of compounds that confer protection against ultraviolet radiation (UVR), such as astaxanthin and mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), in relation to predation risk. Despite ample evidence that copepods accumulate less astaxanthin in the presence of predators, little is known about how the community composition of planktivorous fish can affect the overall expression of photoprotective compounds. Here, we investigate how the (co-)occurrence of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) and threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) affect the photoprotective phenotype of the copepod Leptodiaptomus minutus in lake ecosystems in southern Greenland. We found that average astaxanthin and MAA contents were lowest in lakes with stickleback, but we found no evidence that these photoprotective compounds were affected by the presence of charr. Furthermore, variance in astaxanthin among individual copepods was greatest in the presence of stickleback and the astaxanthin content of copepods was negatively correlated with increasing stickleback density. Overall, we show that the presence and density of stickleback jointly affect the content of photoprotective compounds by copepods, illustrating how the community composition of predators in an ecosystem can determine the expression of prey traits that are also influenced by abiotic stressors. --

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Chronic browsing by an introduced mammalian herbivore in a tropical island alters species composition and functional traits of forest understory plant communities

Mammalian herbivores have large-scale impacts on vegetation, altering structure and species composition, especially in tropical grasslands and savannas. However, there is limited understanding of the potential impacts of mammalian herbivores in tropical wet forests, where they are typically less abundant. We investigated the effects of an introduced mammalian herbivore chital (Axis axis) on vegetation structure, composition and leaf functional traits of tropical evergreen forests of the Andaman Islands, India. Across seven islands, representing a gradient of herbivore densities, increasing chital presence was associated with decreased understory richness, understory density and adult tree richness, but was not related to adult tree density or size class distributions. We also found a significant decrease in community-level leaf palatability traits (specific leaf area decreased and leaf thickness increased) with increasing chital habitat use. This community-level shift in leaf trait values was better explained by intra-specific variation in leaf traits across islands rather than changes in species composition. In summary, we show persistent long-term impacts of an introduced mammalian herbivore on understory tropical tree communities although there is little impact on adult tree communities. Our results also show that functional traits of species can be altered in response to novel herbivory, even at herbivore densities where there are no detectable impacts on adult forest structure or composition. Such altered functional traits may potentially alter ecosystem functioning in these forests even without changes in vegetation structure.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Environmental conditions differently shape leaf, seed and seedling trait composition between and within elevations of tropical montane forests

The composition of plant functional traits varies in response to environmental conditions due to processes of community assembly and species sorting. However, there is a lack of understanding of how plant trait composition responds to environmental conditions at different spatial scales and across the plant life cycle. We investigated the trait composition of leaves (specific leaf area), seeds (seed mass) and seedlings (initial seedling height) across elevations and within elevations in relation to soil and light conditions in a tropical montane forest in southern Ecuador. We surveyed traits and communities of adult trees, seeds and seedlings on nine plots at three elevations (1000-3000 m a.s.l.) and calculated community-weighted mean trait values to analyse trait variation across and within elevations. In addition, we measured two environmental factors (soil C/N ratio and canopy openness) to quantify local-scale variation in environmental conditions within elevations. We found that community-weighted means of specific leaf area, seed mass and initial seedling height decreased consistently with increasing elevation. Within elevations, mean trait values of trees, seeds and seedlings responded differently to local-scale environmental conditions. Specific leaf area decreased with increasing soil C/N ratio, and initial seedling height decreased with increasing canopy openness. Seed mass was associated neither with soil nor with light conditions. Our findings show that broad-scale and local-scale processes differently shape the composition of leaf, seed and seedling traits in tropical forests, indicating a scale-dependence in trait-environment associations. Furthermore, plant traits corresponding to different life stages were related differently to environmental conditions within elevations. Community assembly processes may therefore lead to differences in species sorting at early and late plant life stages.

opencc-zeroJun 2024View details →

dryad36/100

Data for the article: Coupling of leaf elemental traits with root fungal community composition reveals a plant resource acquisition strategy in a desert ecosystem

Purpose: Plant-associated microbes enhance nutrient access and stress tolerance of the host species, and therefore, are crucial for plant traits and resource strategies. However, the links between aboveground plant traits and belowground microbes related to plant resource strategies under stressful conditions remain poorly understood. Methods: We tested the relationships between leaf traits linked to water (carbon isotopic composition, δ13C) and nutrient use (elemental concentrations and stoichiometry) with microbial compositions in roots and rhizospheres of two dominant species (Artemisia ordosica and Leymus secalinus) in the Mu Us Desert, northern China. Results: L. secalinus exhibited higher Mg and Mn concentrations, N:P ratios, stoichiometric flexibility, and root fungi:bacteria ratios, but lower foliar K and Ca concentrations and δ13C values than A. ordosica. The leaf N:P of L. secalinus increased with the root fungi:bacteria ratios, whereas the leaf N:P of A. ordosica decreased with the root fungi:bacteria ratios. The plant elemental levels (P, N, K, Ca, Mn, and δ13C) of L. secalinus but not A. ordosica were significantly related to their root fungal composition. Additionally, the random forest model identified four key fungal families in predicting leaf elemental traits for both plant species. Conclusion: The results suggested tight coupling and coordination between leaf elemental traits and root microbial compositions (especially fungal communities) related to plant resource acquisition strategies. By regulating aboveground and belowground feedback loops through trait flexibility and root microbial compositions, the studied plant species can sustain their resource strategies under stressful environmental conditions.

opencc-zeroNov 2022View details →

dryad36/100

The data table of eleven invasive species in Hungary and Romania: Invasive species' cover, invasive species' traits, basic characteristics, trait composition, functional diversity indices and soil parameters of recipient plant communities

We studied 11 widespread herbaceous invasive alien species of East-Central Europe and their 16 impact metrics (resident plant communities' ecological characteristics, trait composition, functional diversity, and soil parameters) by sampling invaded and similar, uninvaded sites (space-for-time substitution method). Our aim was to (1) investigate the detailed ecological impacts of invasive plants on native plant communities; (2) explore the type of cover-impact relationships across impact metrics and their consistency across species; (3) study whether the cover-impact relationship depends on functional traits of invasive species. We present the data table with the 11 invasive species: the status of the sites (invaded, uninvaded), the cover of invasive species at plot level, the invasive species traits (lifespan, height, SLA, seed mass, clonal spread, flowering duration), community characteristics (species richness and diversity, native vegetation cover and bare ground cover at plot level), trait composition of native plant communities (native vegetation height, CWM height, CWM SLA, CWM seed mass, CWM clonal spread), functional diversity (functional richness, functional evenness, functional divergence, functional distance, RaoQ) and soil properties (N, P, organic C, pH).

opencc-zeroFeb 2023View details →

zenodo36/100

Species phylogeny, ecology and root traits as predictors of root exudate composition

In this study, a total of 65 neophytes (alien species introduced after 1500 A.D.), belonging to 51 genera and 25 families, occurring in the Czech Republic, were used. The species set represented plant families only from eudicots with Asteraceae, Brassicaceae Amaranthaceae, Polygonaceae and Fabaceae as the major families having 4 or more species. We measured different root morphological and biochemical traits (including exudate profiles) of these plant species grown in a controlled system.

opencc-by-4.0May 2024View details →

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