ArticlePloS one2015
Contrasting effects of intraspecific trait variation on trait-based niches and performance of legumes in plant mixtures.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Revisiting competitive outcomes through a trait lens: a global meta-analysis across species provenance.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of species diversity on trait expression of the clonal herbEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Single-gene resolution of diversity-driven overyielding in plant genotype mixtures.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Trait Diversity of Pulse Species Predicts Agroecosystem Properties Trade-Offs.Frontiers in plant science · 2021Article
- Article
- Both selection and plasticity drive niche differentiation in experimental grasslands.Nature plants · 2020Article
- Plant domestication disrupts biodiversity effects across major crop types.Ecology letters · 2019Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Niche differentiation, assumed to be a key mechanism of species coexistence, requires that species differ in their functional traits. So far it remains unclear to which extent trait plasticity leads to niche shifts of species at higher plant diversity, thereby increasing or decreasing niche overlap between species. To analyse this question it is convenient to measure niches indirectly via the variation in resource-uptake traits rather than directly via the resources used. We provisionally call these indirectly measured niches trait-based niches. We studied shoot- and leaf-morphological characteristics in seven legume species in monoculture and multi-species mixture in experimental grassland. Legume species varied in the extent of trait variation in response to plant diversity. Trait plasticity led to significant shifts in species niches in multiple dimensions. Single-species niches in several traits associated with height growth and filling of canopy space were expanded, while other niche dimensions were compressed or did not change with plant diversity. Niche separation among legumes decreased in dimensions related to height growth and space filling, but increased in dimensions related to leaf size and morphology. The total extent of occupied niche space was larger in mixture than in the combined monocultures for dimensions related to leaf morphology and smaller for dimensions related to whole-plant architecture. Taller growth, greater space filling and greater plasticity in shoot height were positively, while larger values and greater plasticity in specific leaf area were negatively related with increased performance of species in mixture. Our study shows that trait variation in response to plant diversity shifts species niches along trait axes. Plastically increased niche differentiation is restricted to niche dimensions that are apparently not related to size-dependent differences between species, but functional equivalence (convergence in height growth) rather than complementarity (divergence in traits associated with light acquisition) explains increased performance of legumes in mixture.
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