Competition for light and nutrients in layered communities of aquatic plants

TY - JOUR

T1 - Competition for light and nutrients in layered communities of aquatic plants

AU - Van Gerven, Luuk P.A.

AU - de Klein, J.J.M

AU - Gerla, Daan J.

AU - Kooi, B.W.

AU - Kuiper, Jan J.

AU - Mooij, Wolf M.

N1 - 5798, AqE; Data archiving: no data, model

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - Dominance of free-floating plants poses a threat to biodiversity in many freshwater ecosystems. Here we propose a theoretical framework to understand this dominance, by modeling the competition for light and nutrients in a layered community of floating and submerged plants. The model shows that at high supply of light and nutrients, floating plants always dominate due to their primacy for light, even when submerged plants have lower minimal resource requirements. The model also shows that floating-plant dominance cannot be an alternative stable state in light-limited environments but only in nutrient-limited environments, depending on the plants’ resource consumption traits. Compared to unlayered communities, the asymmetry in competition for light—coincident with symmetry in competition for nutrients—leads to fundamentally different results: competition outcomes can no longer be predicted from species traits such as minimal resource requirements ( rule) and resource consumption. Also, the same two species can, depending on the environment, coexist or be alternative stable states. When applied to two common plant species in temperate regions, both the model and field data suggest that floating-plant dominance is unlikely to be an alternative stable state.

AB - Dominance of free-floating plants poses a threat to biodiversity in many freshwater ecosystems. Here we propose a theoretical framework to understand this dominance, by modeling the competition for light and nutrients in a layered community of floating and submerged plants. The model shows that at high supply of light and nutrients, floating plants always dominate due to their primacy for light, even when submerged plants have lower minimal resource requirements. The model also shows that floating-plant dominance cannot be an alternative stable state in light-limited environments but only in nutrient-limited environments, depending on the plants’ resource consumption traits. Compared to unlayered communities, the asymmetry in competition for light—coincident with symmetry in competition for nutrients—leads to fundamentally different results: competition outcomes can no longer be predicted from species traits such as minimal resource requirements ( rule) and resource consumption. Also, the same two species can, depending on the environment, coexist or be alternative stable states. When applied to two common plant species in temperate regions, both the model and field data suggest that floating-plant dominance is unlikely to be an alternative stable state.

KW - national

U2 - 10.1086/681620

DO - 10.1086/681620

M3 - Article

SN - 0003-0147

VL - 186

SP - 72

EP - 83

JO - American Naturalist

JF - American Naturalist

IS - 1

ER -