Njpj

Downloaded from rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org on 27 October 2009

Taxonomic scale-dependence of habitat niche partitioning and biotic neighbourhood on survival of tropical tree seedlings
Simon A. Queenborough, David F. R. P. Burslem, Nancy C. Garwood and Renato Valencia Proc. R. Soc. B 2009 276, 4197-4205 first published online 9 September 2009 doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0921

Supplementarydata

"Data Supplement" http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/suppl/2009/09/08/rspb.2009.0921.DC1.h tml
This article cites 37 articles, 6 of which can be accessed free

References Subject collections Email alerting service

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/276/1676/4197.full.html#ref-list-1 Articles on similar topics can be found in the following collections ecology(956 articles)
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article - sign up in the box at the top right-hand corner of the article or click here

To subscribe to Proc. R. Soc. B go to: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/subscriptions

This journal is © 2009 The Royal Society

Downloaded from rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org on 27 October 2009

Proc. R. Soc. B (2009) 276,4197–4205 doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0921 Published online 9 September 2009

Taxonomic scale-dependence of habitat niche partitioning and biotic neighbourhood on survival of tropical tree seedlings
. Simon A. Queenborough1,*, David F. R. P Burslem2, 3 and Renato Valencia4 Nancy C. Garwood
1

Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK 2 School ofBiological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, UK 3 Department of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA 4 ´ Laboratorio de Ecologıa de Plantas, Escuela de Ciencias Biologicas, Pontificia Universidad ´ Catolica del Ecuador, Apartado 17-01-2148, Quito, Ecuador

In order to differentiate between mechanisms of species coexistence, we examined therelative importance of local biotic neighbourhood, abiotic habitat factors and species differences as factors influencing the survival of 2330 spatially mapped tropical tree seedlings of 15 species of Myristicaceae in two separate analyses in which individuals were identified first to species and then to genus. Using likelihood methods, we selected the most parsimonious candidate models as predictors of3 year seedling survival in both sets of analyses. We found evidence for differential effects of abiotic niche and neighbourhood processes on individual survival between analyses at the genus and species levels. Niche partitioning (defined as an interaction of taxonomic identity and abiotic neighbourhood) was significant in analyses at the genus level, but did not differentiate among species inmodels of individual seedling survival. By contrast, conspecific and congeneric seedling and adult density were retained in the minimum adequate models of seedling survival at species and genus levels, respectively. We conclude that abiotic niche effects express differences in seedling survival among genera but not among species, and that, within genera, community and/or local variation in adult andseedling abundance drives variation in seedling survival. These data suggest that different mechanisms of coexistence among tropical tree taxa may function at different taxonomic or phylogenetic scales. This perspective helps to reconcile perceived differences of importance in the various non-mutually exclusive mechanisms of species coexistence in hyper-diverse tropical forests. Keywords: diversity;logistic regression; lowland tropical rain forest; phylogeny; seedling survival; species coexistence

1. INTRODUCTION Models of species coexistence in hyper-diverse tropical tree communities emphasize either niche partitioning, density-dependent survival or ecological equivalence (reviewed by Chesson 2000; Wright 2002). These mechanisms have all received partial support in studies of...