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Hierarchical reproductive allocation and allometry within a perennial bunchgrass after 11 years of nutrient addition.

ABSTRACT: Bunchgrasses are one of the most important plant functional groups in grassland ecosystems. Reproductive allocation (RA) for a bunchgrass is a hierarchical process; however, how bunchgrasses adjust their RAs along hierarchical levels in response to nutrient addition has never been addressed. Here, utilizing an 11-year nutrient addition experiment, we examined the patterns and variations in RA of Agropyron cristatum at the individual, tiller and spike levels. We evaluated the reproductive allometric relationship at each level by type II regression analysis to determine size-dependent and size-independent effects on plant RA variations. Our results indicate that the proportion of reproductive individuals in A. cristatum increased significantly after 11 years of nutrient addition. Adjustments in RA in A. cristatum were mainly occurred at the individual and tiller levels but not at the spike level. A size-dependent effect was a dominant mechanism underlying the changes in plant RA at both individual and tiller levels. Likewise, the distribution of plant size was markedly changed with large individuals increasing after nutrient addition. Tiller-level RA may be a limiting factor for the adjustment of RA in A. cristatum. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to examine plant responses in terms of reproductive allocation and allometry to nutrient enrichment within a bunchgrass population from a hierarchical view. Our findings have important implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying bunchgrass responses in RA to future eutrophication due to human activities. In addition, we developed a hierarchical analysis method for disentangling the mechanisms that lead to variation in RA for perennial bunchgrasses.

SUBMITTER: Tian D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3439474 | biostudies-other | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Hierarchical reproductive allocation and allometry within a perennial bunchgrass after 11 years of nutrient addition.

Tian Dashuan D Pan Qingmin Q Simmons Matthew M Chaolu Hada H Du Baohong B Bai Yongfei Y Wang Hong H Han Xingguo X

PloS one 20120911 9

Bunchgrasses are one of the most important plant functional groups in grassland ecosystems. Reproductive allocation (RA) for a bunchgrass is a hierarchical process; however, how bunchgrasses adjust their RAs along hierarchical levels in response to nutrient addition has never been addressed. Here, utilizing an 11-year nutrient addition experiment, we examined the patterns and variations in RA of Agropyron cristatum at the individual, tiller and spike levels. We evaluated the reproductive allomet ...[more]

PMID: 22984408

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Project description:Variance in reproductive success (sk2, with k = number of offspring) plays a large role in determining the rate of genetic drift and the scope within which selection acts. Various frameworks have been proposed to parse factors that contribute to sk2, but none has focused on age-specific values of ϕ=sk2/k¯, which indicate the degree to which reproductive skew is overdispersed (compared to the random Poisson expectation) among individuals of the same age and sex. Instead, within-age effects are generally lumped with residual variance and treated as "noise." Here, an ANOVA sums-of-squares framework is used to partition variance in annual and lifetime reproductive success into between-group and within-group components. For annual reproduction, the between-age effect depends on age-specific fecundity (b x), but relatively few empirical data are available on the within-age effect, which depends on ϕ x. By defining groups by age-at-death rather than age, the same ANOVA framework can be used to partition variance in lifetime reproductive success (LRS) into between-group and within-group components. Analytical methods are used to develop null-model expectations for random contributions to within-group and between-group components. For analysis of LRS, random variation in longevity appears as part of the between-group variance, and effects (if any) of skip breeding and persistent individual differences contribute to the within-group variance. Simulations are used to show that the methods for variance partitioning are asymptotically unbiased. Practical application is illustrated with empirical data for annual reproduction in American black bears and lifetime reproduction in Dutch great tits. Results show that overdispersed within-age variance (1) dominates annual sk2 in both male and female black bears, (2) is the primary factor that reduces annual effective size to a fraction of the number of adults, and (3) represents most of the opportunity for selection. In contrast, about a quarter of the variance in LRS in great tits can be attributed to random variation in longevity, and most of the rest is due to modest differences in fecundity with age estimated for a single cohort of females. R code is provided that reads generic input files for annual and lifetime reproductive success and allows users to conduct variance partitioning with their own data.

Dataset Information

Hierarchical reproductive allocation and allometry within a perennial bunchgrass after 11 years of nutrient addition.

Publications

Hierarchical reproductive allocation and allometry within a perennial bunchgrass after 11 years of nutrient addition.

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