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Trait Dissimilarity and Hierarchy Predict Spatial Co-occurrence Patterns of Tree Species in a Subtropical Forest
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  • Yin deyi,
  • Yu Liu,
  • Qing Ye,
  • Marc Cadotte,
  • Fangliang He
Yin deyi
South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yu Liu
East China Normal University
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Qing Ye
South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Marc Cadotte
University of Toronto
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Fangliang He
University of Alberta
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Abstract

1. The dissimilarity and hierarchy of trait values that characterize niche and fitness differences, respectively, have been increasingly applied to infer mechanisms driving community assembly and to explain species co-occurrence patterns. Here, we predict that limiting similarity should result in the spatial segregation of functionally similar species, while functionally similar species will be more likely to co-occur together either due to environmental filtering or competitive exclusion of inferior competitors (hereafter hierarchical competition). 2. We used a fully mapped 50-ha subtropical forest plot in southern China to explore how pairwise spatial associations were influenced by trait dissimilarity and hierarchy between species in order to gain insight into assembly mechanisms. We assessed pairwise spatial associations using two summary statistics of spatial point patterns at different spatial scales and compared the effects of trait dissimilarity and trait hierarchy of different functional traits on the interspecific spatial associations. These comparisons allow us to disentangle the effects of limiting similarity, environmental filtering and hierarchical competition on species co-occurrence. 3. We found that trait dissimilarity was generally negatively correlated with interspecific spatial associations, meaning that species with similar trait values were more likely to co-occur together and thus supporting environmental filtering or hierarchical competition. We further found that leaf area, wood density and maximum height had stronger trait hierarchy effects on the pairwise spatial associations relative to their corresponding trait dissimilarity effects, which suggests that hierarchical competition played a more (or at least equally) important role in structuring our forest community compared to environmental filtering. 4. This study employed a novel method to disentangle the relative importance of multiple assembly mechanisms in structuring co-occurrence patterns, especially the mechanisms of environmental filtering and hierarchical competition, which lead to indistinguishable co-occurrence patterns. This study also reinforced the importance of trait hierarchy rather than trait dissimilarity in driving neighborhood competition.
09 Nov 2020Submitted to Ecology and Evolution
13 Nov 2020Submission Checks Completed
13 Nov 2020Assigned to Editor
13 Nov 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
30 Dec 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
16 Mar 20211st Revision Received
17 Mar 2021Submission Checks Completed
17 Mar 2021Assigned to Editor
17 Mar 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
23 Mar 2021Editorial Decision: Accept