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Hydrologically defined niches reveal a basis for species richness in plant communities

Nature volume 400, pages 61–63 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Species-rich plant communities are prized repositories of biodiversity and a dwindling resource, but how the large numbers of species that characterize such communities are able to coexist is poorly understood. Resource-based competition theory predicts that stable coexistence between species depends on each being a superior competitor in its own niche1. The theoretical problem is that plants all require the same resources and acquire them in a very limited variety of ways, so observed niche overlaps are high2,3 and exclusion of all but the best competitor is the predicted result. This problem, central to community ecology, has elicited a variety of theoretical solutions4,5,6,7, several of which invoke some degree of niche separation in time or space8,9. The signature of niche separation in the field is to be found in community structure, which should indicate (i) smaller than expected niche overlaps on relevant niche axes and (ii) a trade-off between species' resource use on orthogonal axes. Here we provide evidence for the existence of both these conditions in a species-rich plant community.

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Figure 1: Hydrologically defined niche space.
Figure 2: Trade-offs between dryness and aeration SEVs.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of ITE, IGER and Ecological Surveys (Bangor) for data collection, J. Gilbert for initial data analysis, and G. Spoor and E. Youngs for hydrological interpretation. We acknowledge funding from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for fieldwork and from the Open University Research Development Committee for data analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Ecology and Conservation Research Group, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton, MK7 6AA, Keynes, UK

    Jonathan Silvertown & Mike E. Dodd

  2. Silsoe College, Cranfield University, Silsoe, MK45 4DT, Bedfordshire, UK

    David J. G. Gowing

  3. NERC Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Huntingdon, Monks Wood, PE17 2LS, Abbot's Ripton, UK

    J. Owen Mountford

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  1. Jonathan Silvertown
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  4. J. Owen Mountford
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Correspondence to Jonathan Silvertown.

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Silvertown, J., Dodd, M., Gowing, D. et al. Hydrologically defined niches reveal a basis for species richness in plant communities. Nature 400, 61–63 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/21877

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