New methods for quantifying the spatial storage effect: an illustration with desert annuals

Recent theory supports the long-held proposition that coexistence is promoted by species-specific responses to a spatially varying environment. The underlying coexistence mechanism, the spatial storage effect, can be quantified by the covariance between response to the environment and competition. H...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology (Durham) 2007-09, Vol.88 (9), p.2240-2247
Main Authors: Sears, A.L.W, Chesson, P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal behavior
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
annuals
Biological and medical sciences
Biological competition
coexistence mechanisms
community ecology
competition along gradients
Covariance
Desert Climate
Deserts
Ecological competition
Ecosystem
Ecosystem studies
environmental variation
facilitation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Inflorescences
Interspecific competition
Intraspecific competition
mathematical models
Mechanics
Models, Biological
neighborhood competition
Neighborhoods
new methods
plant communities
plant competition
Plant Development
plant ecology
Plant Physiological Phenomena
Population Density
Population Dynamics
Population ecology
quantitative analysis
spatial heterogeneity
spatial storage effect
Species Specificity
Studies
Synecology
Theory
xerophytes
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Summary:Recent theory supports the long-held proposition that coexistence is promoted by species-specific responses to a spatially varying environment. The underlying coexistence mechanism, the spatial storage effect, can be quantified by the covariance between response to the environment and competition. Here, “competition” is generalized to encompass similar processes such as facilitation and apparent competition. In the present study, we use a model field system of desert annual plants to demonstrate this method and to provide insight into the dynamics of the field system. Specifically, we use neighborhood competition experiments to quantify the spatial storage effect and compare it to the separate (but not mutually exclusive) process of neighborhood-scale resource partitioning. As our basic experimental design has been used frequently in community ecology, these methods can be applied to many existing data sets, as well as future field studies.
ISSN:0012-9658
1939-9170
DOI:10.1890/06-0645.1