ORCID Profile
0000-0001-6067-1349
Current Organisation
Université de Montréal
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Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 21-10-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.10.17.512641
Abstract: Facilitation is an interaction where one species (the benefactor) positively impacts another (the beneficiary). However, the reciprocal effects of beneficiaries on their benefactors are typically only documented using short-term datasets. We use Azorella selago , a cushion plant species and benefactor, and a co-occurring grass species, Agrostis magellanica , on sub-Antarctic Marion Island, comparing cushion plants and the grasses growing on them over a 13-year period using a correlative approach. We additionally compare the feedback effect of A. magellanica on A. selago identified using our long-term dataset with data collected from a single time period. We hypothesized that A. selago size and vitality would be negatively affected by A. magellanica cover and that the effect of A. magellanica on A. selago would become more negative with increasing beneficiary cover and abiotic-severity, due to, e.g., more intense competition for resources. We additionally hypothesized that A. magellanica cover would increase more on cushion plants with greater dead stem cover, since dead stems do not inhibit grass colonization or growth. The relationship between A. magellanica cover and A. selago size and vitality was not significant in the long-term dataset, and the feedback effect of A. magellanica on A. selago did not vary significantly with altitude or aspect however, data from a single time period did not consistently identify this same lack of correlation. Moreover, A. selago dead stem cover was not significantly related to an increase in A. magellanica cover over the long term however, we observed contrasting results from short-term datasets. Long-term datasets may, therefore, be more robust (and practical) for assessing beneficiary feedback effects than conventional approaches, particularly when benefactors are slow-growing. For the first time using a long-term dataset, we show a lack of physical cost to a benefactor species in a facilitative interaction, in contrast to the majority of short-term studies.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14904
Abstract: Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to bio ersity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on in idual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-11-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.7009
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-12-2022
DOI: 10.1111/OIK.09617
Abstract: Facilitation is an interaction where one species (the benefactor) positively impacts another (the beneficiary). However, the reciprocal effects of beneficiaries on their benefactors are typically only documented using short‐term datasets. We use Azorella selago , a cushion plant species and benefactor, and a co‐occurring grass species, Agrostis magellanica , on sub‐Antarctic Marion Island, comparing cushion plants and the grasses growing on them over a 13‐year period using a correlative approach. We additionally compare the feedback effect of A. magellanica on A. selago identified using our long‐term dataset with data collected from a single time period. We hypothesized that A. selago size and vitality would be negatively affected by A. magellanica cover and that the effect of A. magellanica on A. selago would become more negative with increasing beneficiary cover and abiotic‐severity, due to, e.g. more intense competition for resources. We additionally hypothesized that A. magellanica cover would increase more on cushion plants with greater dead stem cover, since dead stems do not inhibit grass colonization or growth. The relationship between A. magellanica cover and A. selago size and vitality was not significant in the long‐term dataset, and the feedback effect of A. magellanica on A. selago did not vary significantly with altitude or aspect however, data from a single time period did not consistently identify this same lack of correlation. Moreover, A. selago dead stem cover was not significantly related to an increase in A. magellanica cover over the long term however, we observed contrasting results from short‐term datasets. Long‐term datasets may, therefore, be more robust (and practical) for assessing beneficiary feedback effects than conventional approaches, particularly when benefactors are slow‐growing. For the first time using a long‐term dataset, we show a lack of physical cost to a benefactor species in a facilitative interaction, in contrast to the majority of short‐term studies.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-12-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.7026
No related grants have been discovered for Tanya Strydom.