Article
Biology
Andy J. Turko, Giulia S. Rossi
Summary: Habitat choice plays a crucial role in shaping patterns of phenotypic plasticity. It can promote adaptive changes and minimize maladaptive changes. Through two case studies, it is found that habitat choice affects the survival time of animals during the dry season and reinforces respiratory specialization and environmental preference.
Article
Plant Sciences
Amber Stanley, Carlos Martel, Gerardo Arceo-Gomez
Summary: Pollinator-mediated competition and facilitation are important mechanisms shaping coexistence in co-flowering communities, with effects varying depending on geographical location. Evaluating interactions between co-flowering species should consider spatial variation and effects at multiple stages of the pollination process.
Article
Plant Sciences
T. Shen, L. Song, R. T. Corlett, A. Guisan, J. Wang, W. -Z. Ma, L. Mouton, A. Vanderpoorten, F. Collart
Summary: Epiphytic bryophyte community composition is primarily driven by environmental filtering, with a secondary role of biotic interactions and minimal contribution of competitive exclusion.
Review
Plant Sciences
M. Verdu, J. M. Gomez, A. Valiente-Banuet, C. Schob
Summary: The study summarizes the existing empirical evidence and theoretical framework on positive plant interactions, discusses the potential impact of facilitation on plant evolution, and explores the knowledge gaps in current research.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Review
Plant Sciences
Richard Michalet, Florian Delerue, Pierre Liancourt, Francisco I. Pugnaire
Summary: The relationship between species richness and productivity is affected by environmental gradients, with competition shifting to facilitation being a key factor. According to literature and hypotheses, complementary effects are more likely to occur in moderately stressful environments. Therefore, better understanding the context dependency of complementarity processes and the role of facilitation is crucial for the protection of ecosystem functioning.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jared Kehe, Anthony Ortiz, Anthony Kulesa, Jeff Gore, Paul C. Blainey, Jonathan Friedman
Summary: The study used an ultrahigh-throughput coculture platform to measure interactions among 20 soil bacteria in 40 carbon environments, finding that positive interactions were prevalent and primarily occurred as parasitisms between strains with differing carbon consumption profiles. In 85% of cases, non-growing strains were promoted by strongly growing strains, suggesting a simple positive interaction-mediated approach for cultivation, microbiome engineering, and microbial consortium design.
Article
Ecology
Cyrill Hess, Jonathan M. Levine, Martin M. Turcotte, Simon P. Hart
Summary: This article investigates the ecological explanations for species coexistence and the impact of trait changes on competitive outcomes. The study finds that phenotypic plasticity can promote species coexistence in a way that is not captured by traditional measures of niche differentiation.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Shu Wang, Ragan M. Callaway
Summary: The study reveals that interactions between different plants can influence the growth and plasticity of plants in response to environmental factors, especially in dry conditions, plant interactions may have a positive facilitative effect on plant growth.
Article
Ecology
Xuejun Yang, Lorena Gomez-Aparicio, Christopher J. Lortie, Miguel Verdu, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Zhenying Huang, Ruiru Gao, Rong Liu, Yonglan Zhao, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen
Summary: This study uses a global database to examine the patterns of plant interactions and their effects on climate. It finds that competition occurs more frequently than facilitation in plant communities worldwide and that plant interactions show weak relationships with latitude and climate. The study highlights competition as a fundamental mechanism structuring plant communities globally.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Shuang-Guo Zhu, Hong-Yan Tao, Wen -Bo Li, Rui Zhou, Yan-Wen Gui, Li Zhu, Xiao-Lin Zhang, Wei Wang, Bao-Zhong Wang, Fu-Jian Mei, Hao Zhu, You-Cai Xiong
Summary: This study investigated the plant-plant interactions in a maize-grass pea intercropping system under varying phosphorus availability. The results showed that intercropping positively influenced field productivity and nutrient uptake, with the facilitative effect dominating under low phosphorus conditions. The meta-analysis further confirmed the benefits of intercropping in terms of productivity and nutrient utilization.
AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Yafeng Wang, Qing Mao, Ping Ren, Shalik Ram Sigdel
Summary: Recent studies have reported long-term stability in alpine treeline positions and increased stem density, but the relevance of a denser treeline forest to tree-tree interactions is still unclear. This study mapped and surveyed individual trees in two Smith fir treeline plots and found that increased stem density at alpine treeline may be linked to competitive interactions in relatively favorable environmental conditions. The spatial patterns of treeline populations are mainly shaped by thermal and moisture conditions, as well as non-climatic variables such as disturbance history and microtopography.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Christopher J. Freeman, Cole G. Easson, Cara L. Fiore, Robert W. Thacker
Summary: Marine sponges have achieved success in diverse ecological niches globally, attributed to well-developed aquiferous systems and microbial symbionts providing nutritional benefits. Current hypotheses on the evolution of these interactions are overly generalized, limiting understanding of the evolutionary processes involved. Evolutionary pressures shaping these interactions are complex, influenced by both external factors like nutrient limitation and competition, and internal factors such as fitness trade-offs and evolutionary constraints.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Finbarr G. Horgan, Arriza Arida, Goli Ardestani, Maria Liberty P. Almazan
Summary: The study found that the white-backed planthopper performed better at 25 degrees Celsius, while the brown planthopper performed better at 30 degrees Celsius. However, at high temperatures, the white-backed planthopper caused a reduction in oviposition and nymph performance of the brown planthopper. Interference competition enhanced ecosystem resilience to warmer temperatures predicted under global climate change through host plant defenses.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Evolutionary Biology
Helene Freville, Germain Montazeaud, Emma Forst, Jacques David, Roberto Papa, Maud I. Tenaillon
Summary: Plant domestication is a form of mutualism between humans and crops, which in turn affects beneficial interactions within and between crop species and their associated microbial partners. Manipulating genetic diversity in agrosystems can promote beneficial interactions through niche partitioning, facilitation, and kin selection. However, factors such as decreased molecular and functional diversity, mass selection, and increased use of chemical inputs have led to reduced benefits from niche partitioning and facilitation. In contrast, kin selection has likely been promoted since modern breeding. Further research is needed to explore the role of crop phenotypic plasticity and human-mediated selection on cooperation via kin recognition. Plant breeding and agricultural practices play a vital role in promoting beneficial interactions within and between species for the sustainability of agroecosystems.
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Claire M. Tortorelli, Becky K. Kerns, Meg A. Krawchuk
Summary: The success of ventenata invasion is more strongly influenced by environmental and dispersal limitations than by interactions with resident species. These findings have important implications for managing invasive species in non-forest ecosystems.
BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Robert D. Hollister, Cassandra Elphinstone, Greg H. R. Henry, Anne D. Bjorkman, Kari Klanderud, Robert G. Bjoerk, Mats P. Bjoerkman, Stef Bokhorst, Michele Carbognani, Elisabeth J. Cooper, Ellen Dorrepaal, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Ned Fetcher, Elise C. Gallois, Jon Guomundsson, Nathan C. Healey, Ingibjorg Svala Jonsdottir, Ingeborg J. Klarenberg, Steven F. Oberbauer, Petr Macek, Jeremy L. May, Alessandro Mereghetti, Ulf Molau, Alessandro Petraglia, Riikka Rinnan, Christian Rixen, Philip A. Wookey
Summary: This article reviews the impacts of Open top chambers (OTCs) on the physical environment and evaluates the appropriateness of using OTCs to characterize the response of biota to warming. The study finds that OTC is a useful experimental tool, but the characteristics and magnitude of warming vary greatly in different environments, so it is necessary to document chamber performance for a better interpretation of biotic response.
Article
Ecology
Miguel Verdu, Jose L. Garrido, Julio M. Alcantara, Alicia Montesinos-Navarro, Salomon Aguilar, Marcelo A. Aizen, Ali A. Al-Namazi, Mohamed Alifriqui, David Allen, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Cristina Armas, Jesus M. Bastida, Tono Bellido, Giuliano Bonanomi, Gustavo B. Paterno, Herbert Briceno, Ricardo A. C. de Oliveira, Josefina G. Campoy, Ghassen Chaieb, Chengjin Chu, Sarah E. Collins, Richard Condit, Elena Constantinou, Cihan U. Degirmenci, Leo Delalandre, Milen Duarte, Michel Faife, Fatih Fazlioglu, Edwino S. Fernando, Joel Flores, Hilda Flores-Olvera, Ecaterina Fodor, Gislene Ganade, Maria Begona Garcia, Patricio Garcia-Fayos, Sabrina S. Gavini, Marta Goberna, Lorena Gomez-Aparicio, Enrique Gonzalez-Pendas, Ana Gonzalez-Robles, Stephen P. Hubbell, Kahraman Ipekdal, Maria J. Jorquera, Zaal Kikvidze, Pinar Kutkut, Alicia Ledo, Sandra Lendinez, Buhang Li, Hanlun Liu, Francisco Lloret, Ramiro P. Lopez, Alvaro Lopez-Garcia, Christopher J. Lortie, Gianalberto Losapio, James A. Lutz, Arantzazu L. Luzuriaga, Frantisek Malis, Esteban Manrique, Antonio J. Manzaneda, Vinicius Marcilio-Silva, Richard Michalet, Rafael Molina-Venegas, Jose Antonio Navarro-Cano, Vojtech Novotny, Jens M. Olesen, Juan P. Ortiz-Brunel, Maria Pajares-Murgo, Nikolas Parissis, Geoffrey Parker, Antonio J. Perea, Vidal Perez-Hernandez, Maria Angeles Perez-Navarro, Nuria Piston, Elisa Pizarro-Carbonell, Ivan Prieto, Jorge Prieto-Rubio, Francisco Pugnaire, Nelson Ramirez, Ruben Retuerto, Pedro J. Rey, Daniel A. Rodriguez Ginart, Mariana Rodriguez-Sanchez, Ricardo Sanchez-Martin, Christian Schob, Cagatay Tavsanoglu, Giorgi Tedoradze, Amanda Tercero-Araque, Katja Tielboerger, Blaise Touzard, Irem Tufekcioglu, Sevda Turkis, Francisco M. Usero, Nurbahar Usta, Alfonso Valiente-Banuet, Alexia Vargas-Colin, Ioannis Vogiatzakis, Regino Zamora
Summary: Plant recruitment interactions shape plant community composition, diversity, and structure. Modeling and analyzing the community-level structure of plant recruitment interactions as a complex network can provide relevant information on ecological and evolutionary processes. This data set includes 143 plant recruitment networks across five continents, providing valuable information for testing ecological, biogeographical, and evolutionary hypotheses related to plant recruitment interactions.
Article
Ecology
Richard Michalet, David Nemer, Florian Delerue
Summary: This study found that deciduous broad-leaved forests on calcareous and siliceous soils have different buffering effects during dry and wet years. Calcareous soils have higher forest structure complexity, lower light transmission, and lower air temperature and humidity, which provide better protection for plants. On the other hand, siliceous soils have lower forest structure complexity, higher light transmission, and higher air temperature and humidity, resulting in weaker buffering effects.
Article
Ecology
Morgan J. Raath-Krueger, Christian Schoeb, Melodie A. McGeoch, Divan A. Burger, Tanya Strydom, Peter C. le Roux
Summary: Through analysis of a long-term dataset, we found that the size and vitality of the cushion plant species Azorella selago on sub-Antarctic Marion Island were not affected by the cover of the co-occurring grass species Agrostis magellanica. This result, contrary to many short-term studies, highlights the importance of long-term datasets in assessing beneficiary feedback effects.
Article
Plant Sciences
Akanksha Singh, Christian Schob, Pietro P. M. Iannetta
Summary: The study aimed to investigate the influence of companion plant species on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and nutrient concentration of common bean in crop mixtures. Results showed that beans exhibited low levels of BNF and potentially competed with other species for available soil nitrogen in mixtures. However, chickpeas showed enhanced BNF when grown in mixtures. Additionally, biomass and nutrient assimilation of chickpea and Sorghum were higher in monocultures compared to mixtures with beans, suggesting competitive effects.
Article
Agronomy
Chloe MacLaren, Wycliffe Waswa, Kamaluddin Tijjani Aliyu, Lieven Claessens, Andrew Mead, Christian Schob, Bernard Vanlauwe, Jonathan Storkey
Summary: This study examines the relationship between two functional traits (plant height and specific leaf area) and intercrop productivity. The results show that these two traits have limited explanatory power, indicating the need to consider other factors to better understand intercrop productivity.
FIELD CROPS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jesus Lopez-Angulo, Laura Stefan, Nadine Engbersen, Christian Schöb
Summary: Higher plant species diversity decreases variability of plant community productivity. The stabilizing effect of plant diversity can result from species-specific responses to environmental fluctuations and from shifts in competitive hierarchies. Evolutionary adaptation of species to surrounding plant diversity could further decrease productivity variability.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Anja Schmutz, Christian Schob
Summary: Diverse plant communities with different spatial water uptake patterns contribute to higher productivity in mixtures compared to monocultures. This is due to niche partitioning of species and complementary root distribution. These findings support the potential of intercropping for sustainable agriculture with more efficient soil resource utilization.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Jose M. Gomez, Adela Gonzalez-Megias, Cristina Armas, Eduardo Narbona, Luis Navarro, Francisco Perfectti
Summary: Plasticity can have direct effects on the interactions between species, by expanding or shifting interaction niches, and ultimately modifying the structure and functionality of ecological networks. This causal pathway may explain how interaction niches evolve quickly in response to rapid environmental changes and is important for understanding the impact of global change on ecological interactions.
Article
Ecology
Richard Michalet, Gianalberto Losapio, Zaal Kikvidze, Rob W. Brooker, Bradley J. Butterfield, Ragan M. Callaway, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Christopher J. Lortie, Francisco Pugnaire, Christian Schob
Summary: Plant interactions in extreme environments can be studied using paired and random sampling methods, but these methods may be affected by habitat-sharing effects. This study compared the results of the two methods in different levels of environmental heterogeneity and stress. The findings showed that the paired and random sampling methods provided similar results in homogeneous spaces, but the pairwise method yielded higher facilitation estimates than the random method in decreasing abundance gradients. The spatial associations between beneficiary and nurse species varied with increasing stress levels, and there were no differences in results between the two methods at different stress levels in some sites. However, weakly significant differences were found in the Italian site, which were unlikely due to habitat-sharing effects. Overall, the paired sampling method is important in understanding plant interactions in spatially conspicuous environments.
POPULATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
Francisco I. Pugnaire, Karoline H. Aares, Mohamed Alifriqui, Kari Anne Brathen, Christian Kindler, Christian Schob, Esteban Manrique
Summary: Climate change and associated environmental alterations can disrupt the connection between plants and soil microbial communities, impacting processes like litter decomposition which influence nutrient and carbon cycling in ecosystems. Microbial decomposers may specialize in decomposing litter from their own community, known as the home field advantage hypothesis.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Francisco M. Usero, Jose A. Morillo, Cristina Armas, Marisa Gallardo, Rodney B. Thompson, Francisco I. Pugnaire
Summary: This study examined the impact of three crop management systems on tomato production and soil microbial communities. Results showed that adding organic matter significantly increased soil nitrogen content, respiration, and altered the composition of soil prokaryotic and fungal communities. Furthermore, the addition of organic matter reduced the presence and abundance of potential fungal pathogens, resulting in higher crop yields. These findings highlight the importance of organic matter management in developing sustainable agriculture.
SPANISH JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Liliane b. Zani, Ian d. Duarte, Antelmo ralph Falqueto, Francisco ignacio Pugnaire, Luis fernando t. de Menezes
Summary: Climate change has caused shifts in phenology in various species, but the interpretation of these shifts remains unclear without a yardstick. In this study, the effects of climate change on Allagoptera arenaria were assessed using open top chambers (OTCs) and rain gutters to mimic expected temperature and rainfall changes. The results showed that temperature increases may shorten the reproductive cycle of A. arenaria.
ANAIS DA ACADEMIA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS
(2023)