Elevated carbon dioxide is predicted to promote coexistence among competing species in a trait‐based model

Ecology and Evolution

Ashehad A. Ali³  Belinda E. Medlyn¹  Thomas G. Aubier¹  Kristine Y. Crous² 

[1] Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, Australia;Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia;Division of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

关键词: Elevated CO2;    plant competition;    species diversity;    species traits;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ece3.1733

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Differential species responses to atmospheric CO₂ concentration (C_a) could lead to quantitative changes in competition among species and community composition, with flow-on effects for ecosystem function. However, there has been little theoretical analysis of how elevated C_a (eC_a) will affect plant competition, or how composition of plant communities might change. Such theoretical analysis is needed for developing testable hypotheses to frame experimental research. Here, we investigated theoretically how plant competition might change under eC_a by implementing two alternative competition theories, resource use theory and resource capture theory, in a plant carbon and nitrogen cycling model. The model makes several novel predictions for the impact of eC_a on plant community composition. Using resource use theory, the model predicts that eC_a is unlikely to change species dominance in competition, but is likely to increase coexistence among species. Using resource capture theory, the model predicts that eC_a may increase community evenness. Collectively, both theories suggest that eC_a will favor coexistence and hence that species diversity should increase with eC_a. Our theoretical analysis leads to a novel hypothesis for the impact of eC_a on plant community composition. This hypothesis has potential to help guide the design and interpretation of eC_a experiments.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.