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Local environment and density-dependent feedbacks determine population growth in a forest herb

  • Population ecology - Original research
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Abstract

Linking spatial variation in environmental factors to variation in demographic rates is essential for a mechanistic understanding of the dynamics of populations. However, we still know relatively little about such links, partly because feedbacks via intraspecific density make them difficult to observe in natural populations. We conducted a detailed field study and investigated simultaneous effects of environmental factors and the intraspecific density of individuals on the demography of the herb Lathyrus vernus. In regression models of vital rates we identified effects associated with spring shade on survival and growth, while density was negatively correlated with these vital rates. Density was also negatively correlated with average individual size in the study plots, which is consistent with self-thinning. In addition, average plant sizes were larger than predicted by density in plots that were less shaded by the tree canopy, indicating an environmentally determined carrying capacity. A size-structured integral projection model based on the vital rate regressions revealed that the identified effects of shade and density were strong enough to produce differences in stable population sizes similar to those observed in the field. The results illustrate how the local environment can determine dynamics of populations and that intraspecific density may have to be more carefully considered in studies of plant demography and population viability analyses of threatened species. We conclude that demographic approaches incorporating information about both density and key environmental factors are powerful tools for understanding the processes that interact to determine population dynamics and abundances.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Mia Bengtsson, Samira Englund, Ade González Menéndez, Jessica Honkakangas, Liv Jonare, Tove Lund Jörgensen, Camilla Niklasson, Anna Palmé, Suzanne Rosengren, Karin Skagerlund, Ana Sola and John Swensson for help with the data collection and to two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript. We acknowledge funding from the Swedish Research Council (to J. E.). J. P. D. was partly funded by the Strategic Research Programme EkoKlim at Stockholm University and by the Max Planck Society. The study complies with the current laws of the country (Sweden), in which it was performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Max-Planck Odense Center on the Biodemography of Aging, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Johan P. Dahlgren

  2. Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Johan P. Dahlgren, Hannah Östergård & Johan Ehrlén

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  1. Johan P. Dahlgren
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  2. Hannah Östergård
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Correspondence to Johan P. Dahlgren.

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Communicated by Truman Young.

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Dahlgren, J.P., Östergård, H. & Ehrlén, J. Local environment and density-dependent feedbacks determine population growth in a forest herb. Oecologia 176, 1023–1032 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-3073-9

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