Data from: competition for time: evidence for an overlooked, diversity-maintaining competitive mechanism

Understanding how diversity is maintained in plant communities requires
that we first understand the mechanisms of competition for limiting
resources. In ecology, there is an underappreciated, but fundamental
distinction between systems in which the depletion of limiting resources
reduces the growth rates of competitors versus systems in which resource
depletion reduces the time available for competitors to grow, a mechanism
we call “competition for time.” Importantly, modern community ecology, and
our framing of the coexistence problem are built on the implicit
assumption that competition reduces the growth rate. However, recent
theoretical work suggests competition for time may be the predominant
competitive mechanism in a broad array of natural communities, a
significant advance given coexistence follows naturally when species
compete for time. In this study we first introduce competition for time
conceptually using a simple model of interacting species. Then, we perform
an experiment in a Mediterranean annual grassland to determine whether
competition for time is an important competitive mechanism in a field
system. Indeed, we find that species respond to increased competition
through reductions in their lifespan rather than their rate of growth. In
total, our study suggests competition for time may be overlooked as a
mechanism of biodiversity maintenance.