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Ecological similarity is related to phylogenetic distance between species in a cross‐niche field transplant experiment
Author(s) -
Anacker Brian L.,
Strauss Sharon Y.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/15-1285.1
Subject(s) - phylogenetic tree , ecological niche , niche , ecology , biology , niche segregation , niche differentiation , biomass (ecology) , geographical distance , community , similarity (geometry) , habitat , gene , population , demography , biochemistry , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science , image (mathematics)
To determine whether phylogenetic relatedness predicts ecological niche differences and community assembly in the field, we transplanted 16 focal plant species into field niches of species of increasing phylogenetic relatedness, manipulated the presence of plant neighbors, and measured environmental covariates. We found that plant survivorship declined with increasing phylogenetic distance in the presence of neighbors, but with neighbor removal, reached a low point in field niches occupied by species diverged at 63 My, the maximum age of confamilials in our study, and then increased again in the sites of distant relatives. Plant biomass was similarly nonlinear, and niche differences increased with neighbor removal. Competitive response showed a linear decline with relatedness. We compared our experimental results to natural community composition, finding that conspecifics and distant relatives were more likely to co‐occur at smaller spatial scales, as predicted by our measures of performance.