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Allelopathic adaptation can cause competitive coexistence

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Abstract

The maintenance of plant diversity is often explained by the ecological and evolutionary consequences of resource competition. Recently, the importance of allelopathy for competitive interactions has been recognized. In spite of such interest in allelopathy, we have few theories for understanding how the allelopathy influences the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of competing species. Here, I study the coevolutionary dynamics of two competing species with allelopathy in an interspecific competition system, and show that adaptive trait dynamics can cause cyclic coexistence. In addition, very fast adaptation such as phenotypic plasticity is likely to stabilize the population cycles. The results suggest that adaptive changes in allelopathy can lead to cyclic coexistence of plant species even when their ecological characters are very similar and interspecific competition is stronger than intraspecific competition, which should destroy competitive coexistence in the absence of adaptation.

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Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to P. Abrams for his valuable comments on this study. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for a Research Fellow from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and a Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (no. 20*01655) to AM.

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  1. Ryukoku University, 1-5 Yokoya, Seta Oe-cho, Otsu, 520-2194, Japan

    Akihiko Mougi

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  1. Akihiko Mougi
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Correspondence to Akihiko Mougi.

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Mougi, A. Allelopathic adaptation can cause competitive coexistence. Theor Ecol 6, 165–171 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-012-0168-y

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