Direct effects dominate responses to climate perturbations in grassland plant communities.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Chu C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4899860 | biostudies-other | 2016
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
Direct effects dominate responses to climate perturbations in grassland plant communities.
Chu Chengjin C Kleinhesselink Andrew R AR Havstad Kris M KM McClaran Mitchel P MP Peters Debra P DP Vermeire Lance T LT Wei Haiyan H Adler Peter B PB
Nature communications 20160608
Theory predicts that strong indirect effects of environmental change will impact communities when niche differences between competitors are small and variation in the direct effects experienced by competitors is large, but empirical tests are lacking. Here we estimate negative frequency dependence, a proxy for niche differences, and quantify the direct and indirect effects of climate change on each species. Consistent with theory, in four of five communities indirect effects are strongest for sp ...[more]
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