Measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants
A novel method for measuring plant-plant interactions in undisturbed semi-natural and natural plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants is discussed. It is assumed that the ecological success of the different plant species in the plant community may be adequately measu...
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International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences
2011-09-01
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Online Access: | http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/ces/articles/2011-1(3)/Measuring-competition-in-plant-communities.pdf |
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doaj-daed471997e14630ad96d27683d246f72020-11-24T22:43:05ZengInternational Academy of Ecology and Environmental SciencesComputational Ecology and Software2220-721X2011-09-0113125137Measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plantsChristian DamgaardA novel method for measuring plant-plant interactions in undisturbed semi-natural and natural plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants is discussed. It is assumed that the ecological success of the different plant species in the plant community may be adequately measured by plant cover and vertical density (a measure that is correlated to the 3-dimensional space occupancy and biomass). Both plant cover and vertical density are measured in a standard pin-point analysis in the beginning and at the end of the growing season. In the outlined competition model the vertical density at the end of the growing season is assumed to be a function of the cover of all species at the start of the growing season, and the cover at the start of the growing season is assumed to be a function of the vertical density of all species at the end of the previous growing season. The method allows direct measurements of the competitive effects of neighbouring plants on plant performance and the estimation of parameters that describe the ecological processes of plant-plant interactions during the growing season as well as the process of survival and recruitment between growing seasons. Additionally, the presented method is suited for testing different ecological hypothesis on competitive interactions along environmental gradients, investigating the importance of competition, as well as predicting the likelihood of different ecological scenarios.http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/ces/articles/2011-1(3)/Measuring-competition-in-plant-communities.pdfplant-plant interactionplant community dynamicspin-pointstate-space modellatent variables |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Christian Damgaard |
spellingShingle |
Christian Damgaard Measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants Computational Ecology and Software plant-plant interaction plant community dynamics pin-point state-space model latent variables |
author_facet |
Christian Damgaard |
author_sort |
Christian Damgaard |
title |
Measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants |
title_short |
Measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants |
title_full |
Measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants |
title_fullStr |
Measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants |
title_full_unstemmed |
Measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants |
title_sort |
measuring competition in plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants |
publisher |
International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences |
series |
Computational Ecology and Software |
issn |
2220-721X |
publishDate |
2011-09-01 |
description |
A novel method for measuring plant-plant interactions in undisturbed semi-natural and natural plant communities where it is difficult to distinguish individual plants is discussed. It is assumed that the ecological success of the different plant species in the plant community may be adequately measured by plant cover and vertical density (a measure that is correlated to the 3-dimensional space occupancy and biomass). Both plant cover and vertical density are measured in a standard pin-point analysis in the beginning and at the end of the growing season. In the outlined competition model the vertical density at the end of the growing season is assumed to be a function of the cover of all species at the start of the growing season, and the cover at the start of the growing season is assumed to be a function of the vertical density of all species at the end of the previous growing season. The method allows direct measurements of the competitive effects of neighbouring plants on plant performance and the estimation of parameters that describe the ecological processes of plant-plant interactions during the growing season as well as the process of survival and recruitment between growing seasons. Additionally, the presented method is suited for testing different ecological hypothesis on competitive interactions along environmental gradients, investigating the importance of competition, as well as predicting the likelihood of different ecological scenarios. |
topic |
plant-plant interaction plant community dynamics pin-point state-space model latent variables |
url |
http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/ces/articles/2011-1(3)/Measuring-competition-in-plant-communities.pdf |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT christiandamgaard measuringcompetitioninplantcommunitieswhereitisdifficulttodistinguishindividualplants |
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