Plant clonal traits, coexistence and turnover in East Ladakh, Trans-Himalaya

0369570 - BÚ 2012 RIV CZ eng J - Journal Article
de Bello, Francesco - Doležal, Jiří - Ricotta, C. - Klimešová, Jitka
Plant clonal traits, coexistence and turnover in East Ladakh, Trans-Himalaya.
Preslia. Roč. 83, č. 3 (2011), 315-327. ISSN 0032-7786. E-ISSN 0032-7786
R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA600050802
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60050516
Keywords : abiotic and biotic factors * functional traits * neutral theory
Subject RIV: EF - Botanics
Impact factor: 2.521, year: 2011

To what extent does plant clonality contribute to the assemblage of species in communities? Two apparently contrasting, and largely untested, hypotheses envisage the potential role of plant clonal traits in community assembly: (i) environmental filters constrain coexisting species to have functionally similar traits (i.e. trait convergence); (ii) niche differentiation selects for functionally dissimilar species (i.e. trait divergence) allowing them to exploit different spatial and temporal niches. These hypotheses are assessed using a large dataset of 369 plots (100 m2) covering altitudes between 4100 and 5800 m a.s.l. and including the major vegetation types found in Ladakh, NW Himalaya. Patterns of clonal traits, coexistence and turnover were assessed using a functional diversity partitioning framework in the context of different null models.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0203601