Kunin, W.E. (1998) Biodiversity at the edge: A test of the importance of spatial "mass effects" in the Rothamsted Park Grass experiments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 95 (1). pp. 207-212. ISSN 0027-8424
Abstract
The coexistence of many plant species competing for a few resources is one of the central puzzles of community ecology. One explanation is that different species may be competitively superior in different microhabitats. Many species could then coexist within each piece of a mosaic landscape by what has been termed "mass effects," because subpopulations in areas with negative growth rates would be supplemented by propagules from areas with reproductive surpluses. If mass effects are important, plant species diversity should increase near habitat boundaries, especially where habitat differences are moderate. In the first experimental test of this prediction, plants were censused on 54 transects within the long-established Rothamsted Park Grass plots. Very few showed significant declines in species richness with distance from subplot boundaries. Nonetheless, the regression coefficients were negative much more often than expected by chance, suggesting that weak mass effects operated. The effect was strongest where neighboring subplots differed greatly, with no evidence of the predicted decline where differences were extreme. Detailed analyses of transects with apparent mass effects revealed few species that behaved as predicted. This study serves both to provide evidence of the existence of mass effects and to question their importance in the maintenance of local plant diversity in this system.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 1998 by The National Academy of Sciences |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Sherpa Assistant |
Date Deposited: | 14 Mar 2006 |
Last Modified: | 26 Oct 2016 11:44 |
Published Version: | http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/95/1/207 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:560 |