Positive interactions among alpine plants increase with stress

Ragan M. Callaway (), R. W. Brooker, Philippe Choler, Zaal Kikvidze, Christopher J. Lortie, Richard Michalet, Leonardo Paolini, Francisco I. Pugnaire, Beth Newingham, Erik T. Aschehoug, Cristina Armas, David Kikodze and Bradley J. Cook
Additional contact information
Ragan M. Callaway: University of Montana
R. W. Brooker: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, CEH Banchory Research Station, Hill of Brathens
Philippe Choler: Station Alpine du Lautaret et Laboratoire de Biologie des Populations d'Altitude UMR CNRS-UJF 5553, University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, BP 53
Zaal Kikvidze: Institute of Botany of the Georgian Academy of Sciences
Christopher J. Lortie: University of British Columbia
Richard Michalet: Ecosystemes et Changements Environmentaux, University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, BP 53
Leonardo Paolini: Laboratorio de Investigaciones Ecológicas de las Yungas, UNT, CC34, Yerba Buena
Francisco I. Pugnaire: Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
Beth Newingham: University of Montana
Erik T. Aschehoug: University of Montana
Cristina Armas: Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
David Kikodze: Institute of Botany of the Georgian Academy of Sciences
Bradley J. Cook: University of Montana

Nature, 2002, vol. 417, issue 6891, 844-848

Abstract: Abstract Plants can have positive effects on each other1. For example, the accumulation of nutrients, provision of shade, amelioration of disturbance, or protection from herbivores by some species can enhance the performance of neighbouring species. Thus the notion that the distributions and abundances of plant species are independent of other species may be inadequate as a theoretical underpinning for understanding species coexistence and diversity2. But there have been no large-scale experiments designed to examine the generality of positive interactions in plant communities and their importance relative to competition. Here we show that the biomass, growth and reproduction of alpine plant species are higher when other plants are nearby. In an experiment conducted in subalpine and alpine plant communities with 115 species in 11 different mountain ranges, we find that competition generally, but not exclusively, dominates interactions at lower elevations where conditions are less physically stressful. In contrast, at high elevations where abiotic stress is high the interactions among plants are predominantly positive. Furthermore, across all high and low sites positive interactions are more important at sites with low temperatures in the early summer, but competition prevails at warmer sites.

Date: 2002
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature00812 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:417:y:2002:i:6891:d:10.1038_nature00812

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature00812

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().