Assembly of plant communities in grasslands : an overview

• How plants are arranged into communities is one of the central questions in plant ecology. One view holds that plant assembly is governed by deterministic factors, like assembly rules, while another holds that it is mostly stochastic, only constrained by the ability of plants to disperse and survive under the current environmental conditions. Here, I summarize studies on grassland community assembly, and try to find general patterns and rules. Of the 40 reviewed studies, evidence of deterministic assembly was found in 15, while evidence for stochastic assembly was found in nine. Evidence for both factors together was found in the remaining 16 studies. The studies varied in their use of methods, measured variables and scale, making them hard to compare. Even within a single study, results were dependent on the factors mentioned above. Plant community assembly of grasslands is a complex process, affected by assembly rules, environmental filtering and stochastic factors (e.g. dispersal limitation and priority effects) and which factor has the most influence seems to be site specific. More detailed and coordinated research is needed to determine what controls community assembly in grasslands.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Terrestrial ecology

Terrestrisk ekologi

Plant Ecology

växtekologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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