Trait plasticity alters the range of possible coexistence conditions in a competition-colonization trade-off

Most of the classical theory on species coexistence has been based on species-level competitive trade-offs. However, it is becoming apparent that plant species display high levels of trait plasticity. The implications of this plasticity are almost completely unknown for most coexistence theory. Here, we model a competition-colonization trade-off and incorporate trait plasticity to evaluate its effects on coexistence. Our simulations show that the classic competition-colonization trade-off is highly sensitive to environmental circumstances and coexistence only occurs in narrow ranges of conditions. The inclusion of plasticity, which allows shifts in competitive hierarchies across the landscape, leads to coexistence across a much broader range of competitive and environmental conditions including disturbance levels, the magnitude of competitive differences between species, and landscape spatial patterning. Plasticity also increases the number of species that persist in simulations of mult...

大多数关于物种共存的经典理论均以物种层面的竞争权衡为基础。然而，植物物种表现出高度的性状可塑性这一现象正逐渐明晰。对于大多数共存理论而言，这种可塑性的影响几乎完全未知。在此，我们构建了竞争-殖民权衡模型，并纳入性状可塑性以评估其对共存的影响。模拟结果表明，经典的竞争-殖民权衡对环境条件高度敏感，且共存仅发生在狭窄的条件范围内。纳入可塑性（其允许竞争等级在整个景观中发生变化）可使物种在更广泛的竞争与环境条件下共存，这些条件包括干扰水平、物种间竞争差异的大小以及景观空间格局。可塑性还增加了在多物种模拟中持续存在的物种数量...