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COMPETITION AS A CONTROL MECHANISM IN SUBALPINE MEADOWS
Author(s) -
Moral Roger del
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1983.tb07864.x
Subject(s) - interspecific competition , biology , competition (biology) , ecology , productivity , habitat , storage effect , disturbance (geology) , vegetation (pathology) , species diversity , montane ecology , medicine , paleontology , pathology , economics , macroeconomics
Interspecific competition in a stable subalpine meadow was investigated experimentally. Vegetation responds to gradients of moisture and disturbance which control species composition. Moisture and snow melt patterns produce a productivity gradient that affects the importance of competition in this vegetation mosaic. Reciprocal transplant and selective removal experiments demonstrated that the intensity of competition is directly related to productivity and that seedlings are more susceptible to competitive effects than are established plants. Competition may reduce diversity in stable, productive habitats, while disturbance and stress limit diversity directly. Habitats of moderate productivity and minor disturbance have maximum diversity. The experiments and observations combine to suggest that habitat heterogeneity and local disturbance interact to control biotic interference and that the relative importance of each varies with productivity.