Data from: Microenvironment and functional-trait context dependence predict alpine plant community dynamics

Predicting the structure and dynamics of communities is difficult. Approaches linking functional traits to niche boundaries, species co‐occurrence and demography are promising, but have so far had limited success. We hypothesized that predictability in community ecology could be improved by incorporating more accurate measures of fine‐scale environmental heterogeneity and the context‐dependent function of traits. We tested these hypotheses using long term whole‐community demography data from an alpine plant community in Colorado. Species distributions along microenvironmental gradients covaried with traits important for below‐ground processes. Positive associations between species distributions across life stages could not be explained by abiotic microenvironment alone, consistent with facilitative processes. Rates of growth, survival, fecundity and recruitment were predicted by the direct and interactive effects of trait, microenvironment, macroenvironment and neighbourhood axes. Synthesis. Context‐dependent interactions between multiple traits and microenvironmental axes are needed to predict fine‐scale community structure and dynamics.预测群落的结构与动态是一项极具挑战性的任务。将功能性状（functional traits）与生态位边界、物种共存及种群统计学特征相关联的研究路径颇具潜力，但迄今为止成效有限。本研究提出假说：若能纳入更精准的微尺度环境异质性（fine-scale environmental heterogeneity）测量指标，以及性状的情境依赖性功能（context-dependent function of traits），可提升群落生态学的预测能力。我们借助美国科罗拉多州一处高山植物群落（alpine plant community）的长期全群落种群统计数据，对上述假说进行了验证。沿微环境梯度分布的物种，其分布格局与地下过程相关的功能性状呈现共变关系。不同生活史阶段的物种分布之间存在正向关联，而这一关联无法仅通过非生物微环境（abiotic microenvironment）解释，这与物种间的促进作用过程（facilitative processes）相符。物种的生长、存活、繁殖力（fecundity）与种群补充（recruitment）速率，可通过性状、微环境、大环境以及邻体效应轴（neighbourhood axes）的直接效应与交互效应进行预测。综合结论：若要精准预测微尺度群落的结构与动态，需充分考虑多类性状与微环境轴之间的情境依赖性交互作用。