Abstract
Over the past few decades, several conceptual and mathematical models of plant community organization and dynamics have been put forward. While each of these models has attempted to explain important plant community patterns by attributing them to some aspect of plant niches, or to a higher-level process, their predictive success has been very limited. Here I explore why this has happened by reviewing and summarizing each model individually by highlighting the plant community pattern each is trying to explain and predict, by identifying the mechanisms, tolerances, and/or processes authors propose are producing those patterns and describing how they work within the model, and by examining the assumptions of each model. I then discuss common misconceptions and shortcomings among the models, and finally propose a unifying synthesis and comprehensive framework that can serve as a basis for future plant community modeling and research. This synthesis is composed of three key ideas (1) that plant-plant replacements are the “fundamental process” of plant communities which produce every community-level terrestrial plant pattern, (2) that plants respond to mechanisms and tolerances which work both in spaces inside plants and in those spaces outside plants that influence them and/or they may be able to influence, and (3) that those responses make up plant niches which may be able to predict how plants replace themselves over time and space. Consequently I suggest to future field researchers that the best way to understand plant community patterns is to study plant-plant replacements, first by sampling long-term vegetation plots in order to map them, and then by manipulating mechanisms and tolerances in field experiments in order to understand what causes them.
Resumen
Durante los últimos decenios, varios modelos conceptuales y matemáticos de la organización de la comunidad y la dinámica se han presentado. Si bien cada uno de estos modelos clásicos ha tratado de explicar los patrones importante comunidad de plantas, al atribuir a algún aspecto de la planta de nichos, o para un proceso de alto nivel, su éxito predictivo ha sido muy limitada. Aquí se explora por qué esto ha sucedido por la revisión y resumen de cada modelo por separado por (1) poner de relieve el patrón de la comunidad de plantas cada uno está tratando de explicar y predecir, (2) identificar los mecanismos, las tolerancias, y/o procesos autores proponen están produciendo los patrones de y describir cómo funcionan dentro del modelo, y (3) el examen de los supuestos de cada modelo. Finalmente, se plantea conceptos erróneos comunes y las deficiencias entre los modelos, y proponer una síntesis unificadora y un marco integral que puede servir de base para modelar el futuro y la investigación. Esta síntesis propone que las plantas responden a los mecanismos y las tolerancias (que funcionan en espacios dentro y fuera de las plantas), que esas respuestas constituyen nichos de planta, y que los nichos son la clave para entender y predecir cómo las plantas se reemplazan con el tiempo y el espacio. Central de esta síntesis es la idea de que las sustituciones de plantas de plantas son el "proceso fundamental" de las comunidades de plantas que producen cada patrón de plantas terrestres a nivel comunitario. Como consecuencia de ello, sugiero a los investigadores de campo de futuro que la mejor manera de entender los patrones de la planta es la organización de experimentos para investigar estos sustitutos vegetales de plantas mediante la manipulación de los mecanismos y las tolerancias que las causan.
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I thank DL DeAngelis, M Palmer, J Lundholm, R Inouye, K Moloney, J Chase, PJ Burton and STA Pickett for commenting on a past draft of the manuscript.
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Myster, R.W. Plants Replacing Plants: The Future of Community Modeling and Research. Bot. Rev. 78, 2–9 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-011-9091-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-011-9091-y