Intra-specific variability and the competition-colonisation trade-off: coexistence, abundance and stability patterns - INRAE - Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Theoretical Ecology Année : 2012

Intra-specific variability and the competition-colonisation trade-off: coexistence, abundance and stability patterns

Résumé

Intra-specific variability often produces an overlap between species distributions of individual performances which can influence competition relations and community dynamics. We analysed a two-species competitioncolonisation model of vegetation with intra-specific variability in juvenile growth. On each patch colonised by both species, the winner was the juvenile with higher individual growth. Intra-specific variability disproportionately favoured the more fecund species because the tail of its distribution represented more ndividuals. In some cases, this process could even lead to a reversal of competition hierarchy and exclusion of the species with higher mean juvenile performance. In the space of species 2 mean growth and fecundity traits, the combinations of traits allowing coexistence with species 1 appeared close to an ideal trade-off curve. Along this curve, species 2 and species 1 coexisted at similar abundance. The balance of relative abundances diminished with the distance of species 2 from this curve. For a given level of relative species performances, coexistence stability increased continuously as species differentiation increased. In contrast to classical models that exhibit abrupt changes of equilibrium community properties when species traits vary, our model displayed continuous changes of these properties in relation to the balance of life traits within and among species. Intra-specific variability allows flexible patterns of community dynamics and could explain discrepancies between observations and classical theories.
Fichier non déposé

Dates et versions

hal-02594913 , version 1 (15-05-2020)

Identifiants

Citer

Benoît Courbaud, G. Vieilledent, Georges Kunstler. Intra-specific variability and the competition-colonisation trade-off: coexistence, abundance and stability patterns. Theoretical Ecology, 2012, 5 (1), pp.61-71. ⟨hal-02594913⟩

Collections

CIRAD IRSTEA INRAE
9 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More