The Strengths of r- and K-Selection Shape Diversity-Disturbance Relationships

Kristin Bohn, Ryan Pavlick, Björn Reu and Axel Kleidon

PLOS ONE, 2014, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-10

Abstract: Disturbance is a key factor shaping species abundance and diversity in plant communities. Here, we use a mechanistic model of vegetation diversity to show that different strengths of r- and K-selection result in different disturbance-diversity relationships. R- and K-selection constrain the range of viable species through the colonization-competition tradeoff, with strong r-selection favoring colonizers and strong K-selection favoring competitors, but the level of disturbance also affects the success of species. This interplay among r- and K-selection and disturbance results in different shapes of disturbance-diversity relationships, with little variation of diversity with no r- and no K-selection, a decrease in diversity with r-selection with disturbance rate, an increase in diversity with K-selection, and a peak at intermediate values with strong r- and K-selection. We conclude that different disturbance-diversity relationships found in observations may reflect different intensities of r- and K-selection within communities, which should be inferable from broader observations of community composition and their ecophysiological trait ranges.

Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0095659

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095659

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