Effect of Dominants on the Species Richness of Plant Communities in the Context of the Species–Energy Hypothesis

• Published in: Biology bulletin reviews 2023, Vol.13 (3), p.238-246
• Main Authors: Akatov, V. V., Akatova, T. V., Afanasyev, D. F., Eskina, T. G., Sazonets, N. M., Sushkova, E. G., Chefranov, S. G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Dominant species; Ecology; Hypotheses; Life Sciences; Meadows; Old fields; Plant communities; Species richness; Zoology
• ISSN: 2079-0864; 2079-0872
• DOI: 10.1134/S2079086423030027

We compared the involvement of dominants and biomass and the number of accompanying species in series of biomass samples collected on 69 sites of terrestrial plant communities in the Western Caucasus and Transcaucasus (high and low mountain meadows and steppes, communities of wastelands, old fields, etc.), as well as on seven sites of macrophytobenthos of the upper sublittoral of the Black and Azov seas. The results demonstrated that an increase in the involvement of dominant species leads to a significant decrease in the species richness in small areas of terrestrial communities, but has no significant effect on it in marine communities. At the same time, a similar biomass of accompanying species selected in the sites with different involvement of dominants includes a predominantly similar number of such species both in the terrestrial and marine communities. This result can be considered an argument in favor of the validity of Wright’s species–energy hypothesis. It also indicates that an association between the biomass and the number of accompanying species is the main mechanism of the effect of dominants on the species richness of plant communities. This can mean that their effect on the accompanying species is predominantly indiscriminate. Accordingly, the size of the species pool of the community sites with high and low involvement of dominants should be approximately the same.