Modelling the multidimensional niche by linking functional traits to competitive performance.

ABSTRACT: Linking competitive outcomes to environmental conditions is necessary for understanding species' distributions and responses to environmental change. Despite this importance, generalizable approaches for predicting competitive outcomes across abiotic gradients are lacking, driven largely by the highly complex and context-dependent nature of biotic interactions. Here, we present and empirically test a novel niche model that uses functional traits to model the niche space of organisms and predict competitive outcomes of co-occurring populations across multiple resource gradients. The model makes no assumptions about the underlying mode of competition and instead applies to those settings where relative competitive ability across environments correlates with a quantifiable performance metric.

SUBMITTER: Maynard DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4528544 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature