Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Indirect effects in a desert plant community: is competition among annuals more intense under shrub canopies?

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An unresolved discussion in contemporary ecology deals with the relative importance of competition along environmental gradients. In deserts, local-scale differences in environmental productivity may be caused by the presence of shrubs, which represent a favorable habitat for annual populations within a nutrient-poor matrix. In this study, we attempted to test the hypothesis that facilitation of desert annuals by shrubs increase the intensity of competition among the annual plants. Such negative indirect effects have so far been ignored in studies about plant-plant interactions. We tested our hypothesis by measuring seedling survival and fecundity of four abundant annual plant species with and without neighbors in open areas and under shrub canopies in a sandy desert area. Our findings did not indicate indirect negative effects of shrubs on their understory annuals. Sensitivity to the presence of neighbors varied between species and surprisingly, the species with the smallest seeds was the only one which was not negatively affected by the presence of neighbors. In contrast to our hypothesis, there was no difference between the habitat types shrubs and openings in absolute and relative competition intensity. Our overall results suggest that negative indirect effects of shrubs are unimportant in determining demographic response of understory annual plants.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aguiar, M. R. & Sala, O. E. 1994: Competition, facilitation, seed distribution, and the origin of patches in a Patagonian steppe. Oikos 70: 26–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aguiar, M. R. & Sala, O. E. 1999: Patch structure, dynamics, and implications for the functioning of arid ecosystems. Trends Ecol. Evol. 14: 273–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkowicz, S. M., Blume, H.-P. & Yair, A. 1995. The arid ecosystems research center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Pp. 1–12. In: Berkowicz, S. M. & Blume, H.-P. (eds), Arid ecosystems. Catnap Verlag, Cremlingen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callaway, R. M. & Walker, L. R. 1997. Competition and facilitation: a synthetic approach to interactions in plant communities. Ecology 78: 1958–1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, B. D. & Grime, J. P. 1992. An experimental test of plant strategy theory. Ecology 73: 15–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, J. H. 1990. Apparent vs. 'real' competition in plants. Pp. 9–26. In: Grace, J. B. & Tilman, D. (eds), Perspectives on plant competition. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danin, A. 1996. Plants of desert dunes. In: Cloudley-Thompson, J. L. (ed.), Adaptations of organisms to the desert. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, B. L. 1999: Establishment, competition, and the distribution of native grasses among Michigan old-fields. J. Ecol. 87: 476–489.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Moya, E. & McKell, C. M. 1970. Contribution of shrubs to the nitrogen economy of a desert-wash plant community. Ecology 51: 81–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garner, W. & Steinberger, Y. 1989. A proposed mechanism for the formation of 'Fertile Islands' in the desert ecosystem. J. Arid Environ. 16: 257–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, D. E., Rajaniemi, T., Gurevich, J. & Stewart-Oaten, A. 1999: Empirical approaches to quantifying interaction intensity: competition and facilitation along productivity gradients. Ecology 80: 1118–1131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez, J. R., Meserve, P. L., Contreras, L. C., Vásquez, H. & Jaksic, F. M. 1993. Spatial distribution of soil nutrients and ephemeral plants underneath and outside Porlieria chilensis (Zygophyllaceae) in arid coastal Chile. Oecologia 95: 347–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grace, J. B. 1993. The effects of habitat productivity on competition intensity. Trends Ecol. Evol. 8: 229–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grace, J. B. 1995. On the measurement of plant competition intensity. Ecology 76: 305–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime, J. P. 1973. Competitive exclusion in herbaceous vegetation. Nature 242: 344–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halvorson, W. L. & Patten, D. T. 1975. Productivity and flowering of winter ephemerals in relation to Sonoran desert shrubs. Am. Midland Nat. 93: 311–319.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huston, M. A. 1979. A general hypothesis of species diversity. Am. Nat. 113: 81–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kadmon, R. 1995. Plant competition along soil moisture gradients: a field experiment with the desert annual Stipa capensis. J. Ecol. 83: 253–262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kadmon, R. 1997. Neighbor competition modifies demographic responses of desert dune annuals to gradients in sand stability. J. Arid Environ. 36: 557–564.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kadmon, R. & Tielbörger, K. 2000: Testing for source-sink population dynamics: an experimental approach exemplified with desert annuals. Oikos (in press).

  • Klausmeier, C. A. 1999: Regular and irregular patterns in semiarid vegetation. Science 284: 1826–1828.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, T. E. 1994. Direct and indirect species interactions in an early old-field plant community. Am. Nat. 143: 1007–1025.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mull, J. F. & MacMahon, J. A. 1996: Factors determining the spatial variability of seed densities in a shrub-steppe ecosystem: the role of harvester ants. J. Arid Environ. 32: 181–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nash-Suding, K. & Goldberg, D. E. 1999: Variation in the effects of vegetation and litter on recruitment across productivity gradients. J. Ecol. 87: 436–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, J. F. & Chew, R. M. 1977. Factors affecting seed reserves in the soil of a Mojave Desert ecosystem, Rock Valley, Nye County, Nevada. Am. Midland Nat. 97: 300–320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, E. I. 1973. Competition and diversity in herbaceous vegetation. Nature 244: 310–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nobel, P. S. 1989. Temperature, water availability, and nutrient levels at various soil depths -consequences for shallow-rooted desert succulents, including nurse plant effects. Am. J. Bot. 76: 1486–1492.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penning, S. C. & Callaway, R. M. 1996. Salt marsh plant zonation: the relative importance of competition and physical factors. Ecology 77: 1410–1419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prasse, R. & Bornkamm, R. 2000: Effect of microbiotic soil surface crusts on emergence of vascular plants. Plant Ecol. 150(1-2), in this issue.

  • Price, M. V. & Reichman, O. J. 1987: Distribution of seeds in Sonoran desert soils: implications for heteromyid foraging. Ecology 68: 1797–1811.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pugnaire, F. I., Haase, P., Puigdefábregas, J., Cueto, M., Clark, S. C. & Incoll, L. D. 1996. Facilitation and succession under the canopy of a leguminous shrub, Retama sphaerocarpa, in a semiarid environment in south-east Spain. Oikos 76: 455–464.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rees, M. 1995. Community structure in sand dune annuals: is seed weight a key quantity? J. Ecol. 1995: 857–863.

  • Reichman, O. J. 1984: Spatial and temporal variation of seed distributions in Sonoran desert soils. J. Biogeog. 11: 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rostagno, C. M., del Valle, H. F. & Videla, L. 1991. The influence of shrubs on some chemical and physical properties of an aridic soil in north-eastern Patagonia, Argentina. J. Arid Environ. 20: 179–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger, W. H., Raikes, J. A., Hartley, A. E. & Cross, A. F. 1996. On the spatial pattern of soil nutrients in desert ecosystems. Ecology 77: 364–374.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shmida, A. & Whittaker, R. H. 1981. Pattern and biological microsite effects in two shrub communities, Southern California. Ecology 62: 234–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tielbörger, K. 1997a. The vegetation of linear desert dunes in the north-western Negev, Israel. Flora 192: 261–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tielbörger, K. 1997b. Effect of shrubs on population dynamics of annual plants in a sandy desert ecosystem. Ph.D.-Thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Münich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tielbörger, K. & Kadmon, R. 1995. The effect of shrubs on the emergence, survival and fecundity of four coexisting annual species in a sandy desert ecosystem. Écoscience 2: 141–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tielbörger, K. & Kadmon, R. 1997. Relationships between shrubs and annual communities in a sandy desert ecosystem: A three-year study. Plant Ecol. 130: 191–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tielbörger, K. & Kadmon, R. 2000. Temporal environmental variation tips the balance between facilitation and interference in desert plants. Ecology 81: 1544–1553.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilman, D. 1982. Resource competition and community structure. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilman, D. 1988. Plant strategies and the dynamics and structure of plant communities. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turkington, R., Klein, E. & Chanway, C. P. 1993. Interactive effects of nutrients and disturbance: an experimental test of plant strategy theory. Ecology 74: 863–878.

    Google Scholar 

  • Went, F. W. 1942. The dependence of certain annual plants on shrubs in Southern California deserts. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 69: 100–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winn, A. A. 1985. Effects of seed size and microsite on seedling emergence of Prunella vulgaris in four habitats. J. Ecol. 73: 831–840.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Vegetationsökologie und Naturschutz, Universität Potsdam, Maulbeerallee 2, 14469, Potsdam, Germany

    Katja Tielbörger

  2. Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel

    Ronen Kadmon

Authors
  1. Katja Tielbörger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ronen Kadmon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tielbörger, K., Kadmon, R. Indirect effects in a desert plant community: is competition among annuals more intense under shrub canopies?. Plant Ecology 150, 53–63 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026541428547

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026541428547

Search

Navigation