Overgrowth competition or facilitation from cushion plants: Implication for the role of plant-plant interactions

Our data reports the annual growth and age of the shrub Caragana versicolor overgrown or free of the cushion plant Thylacospermum ceaspitosum. The observations and sampling were performed at ~5000 m.a.s.l., on the East facing slope of the Korzok range, on the North-Eastern side of Lake Tso Moriri above Korzok village (4522 m a.s.l.). Our study demonstrates that the growth of Caragana versicolor is repressed by the competitive effect of the cushion plant Thylacospermum ceaspitosum, and shows no evidence of facilitation between the two co-occurring species., Study area and target species
The study was conducted in Ladakh, NW India.  Overall the climate in the region is cold and arid due to its high elevation (> 4500 m a.s.l.) and its position in the rain shadow of the Himalaya Range. The study site where the observations and sampling were performed was located at ~5000 m.a.s.l., on the East facing slope of the Korzok range, on the North-Eastern side of Lake Tso Moriri above Korzok village (4522 m a.s.l., 32.968125°N 78.2639885). Annual precipitation is <250 mm per year around the lake (mostly during the Indian summer monsoon), and temperatures in the study area vary from 0˚C to 30˚C in summer and from -40˚C to -10˚C in winter (Liancourt et al. 2017 and references therein). Thylacospermum caespitosum (Caryophyllaceae) is a prominent cushion plant in the Himalayas, which can be found from 4800–5850 m.a.s.l. in the region. It forms a very dense and solid cushion that does not seem to facilitate other species (de Bello et al. 2011, Dvorsk...,