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Effects of low and high nutrients on the competitive hierarchy of 26 shoreline plants
Author(s) -
Keddy Paul,
Gaudet Connie,
Fraser Lauchlan H.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.452
H-Index - 181
eISSN - 1365-2745
pISSN - 0022-0477
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2745.2000.00456.x
Subject(s) - nutrient , biology , ecology , ranking (information retrieval) , shore , plant community , species richness , computer science , fishery , machine learning
Summary 1 We tested the hypothesis that competitive hierarchies are invariant with respect to changing nutrient supply. 2 The competitive performance of 26 shoreline plant species was determined experimentally as the relative ability to suppress the growth of a common indicator (phytometer) species, Penthorum sedoides . Each species was grown with the phytometer under each of two nutrient treatments created with different concentrations of a modified Hoagland’s solution ( n = 5 replicates per species/treatment), for two growing seasons. 3 Although shifts in ranking of relative competitive performance were apparent between nutrient levels, competitive performance under high and low nutrient conditions was significantly correlated in both year 1 ( r = 0.65) and year 2 ( r = 0.76), when all species were considered. 4 At the broad community scale, the outcome of competitive interactions thus appears to be relatively predictable and independent of the environment, and therefore provides a useful tool for exploring and understanding community pattern. These results cannot address questions related to the outcome of competitive interactions between similar species or the effects of fine‐scale pattern.