Data from: Are variations of direct and indirect plant interactions along a climatic gradient dependent on species' strategies? An experiment on tree seedlings

Investigating how interactions among plants depend on environmental conditions is key to understand and predict plant communities’ response to climate change. However, while many studies have shown how direct interactions change along climatic gradients, indirect interactions have received far less attention. In this study, we aim at contributing to a more complete understanding of how biotic interactions are modulated by climatic conditions. We investigated both direct and indirect effects of adult tree canopy and ground vegetation on seedling growth and survival in five tree species in the French Alps. To explore the effect of environmental conditions, the experiment was carried out at 10 sites along a climatic gradient closely related to temperature. While seedling growth was little affected by direct and indirect interactions, seedling survival showed significant patterns across multiple species. Ground vegetation had a strong direct competitive effect on seedling survival under warmer conditions. This effect decreased or shifted to facilitation at lower temperatures. While the confidence intervals were wider for the effect of adult canopy, it displayed the same pattern. The monitoring of micro-environmental conditions revealed that competition by ground vegetation in warmer sites could be related to reduced water availability; and weak facilitation by adult canopy in colder sites to protection against frost. For a cold-intolerant and shade-tolerant species (Fagus sylvatica), adult canopy indirectly facilitated seedling survival by suppressing ground vegetation at high temperature sites. The other more cold tolerant species did not show this indirect effect (Pinus uncinata, Larix decidua and Abies alba). Our results support the widely observed pattern of stronger direct competition in more productive climates. However, for shade tolerant species, the effect of direct competition may be buffered by tree canopies reducing the competition of ground vegetation, resulting in an opposite trend for indirect interactions across the climatic gradient.

探究植物间相互作用如何随环境条件变化，是理解并预测植物群落对气候变化响应的核心所在。然而，尽管已有大量研究揭示了直接相互作用沿气候梯度（climatic gradient）的变化规律，间接相互作用却远未获得足够的关注。本研究旨在更全面地理解气候条件如何调控生物间相互作用（biotic interactions）。我们针对法国阿尔卑斯山区的5个树种，探究了成年树冠与地表植被对幼苗生长与存活的直接与间接效应。为探究环境条件的影响，本实验沿一条与温度密切相关的气候梯度设置了10个研究样地开展。尽管幼苗生长受直接与间接相互作用的影响较小，但多个树种的幼苗存活均呈现出显著的空间格局。在温度较高的生境中，地表植被对幼苗存活具有强烈的直接竞争效应；该效应在温度较低的生境中会逐渐减弱，甚至转变为促进作用（facilitation）。尽管成年树冠效应的置信区间（confidence intervals）跨度更大，但其同样呈现出该变化模式。对微环境条件（micro-environmental conditions）的监测显示，温度较高样地中的地表植被竞争效应，可能与水分可利用性（water availability）降低有关；而寒冷样地中成年树冠的微弱促进效应，则与幼苗免受霜冻侵害相关。对于不耐寒且耐阴的欧洲水青冈（Fagus sylvatica）而言，在高温样地中，成年树冠可通过抑制地表植被间接促进幼苗存活。其余4种耐寒性更强的树种均未表现出该间接效应（Pinus uncinata、Larix decidua及Abies alba）。本研究结果支持了“生产力更高的气候中直接竞争作用更强”这一被广泛观测到的规律。然而，对于耐阴树种而言，树冠可通过抑制地表植被的竞争来缓冲直接竞争效应，进而使得间接相互作用沿气候梯度呈现出相反的变化趋势。