Intensity and Importance of Competition for a Grass (Festuca rubra) and a Legume (Trifolium pratense) Vary with Environmental Changes

作     者：Junyan Zhang Genwei Cheng Feihai Yu Norbert Kraiuchi Mai-He Li 

作者机构：Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment the Chinese Academy of Sciences Chengdu 610041 China Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL CH-8903 Birmensdorf Switzerland Department of Biology Acadia University Nova Scotia B4P 2R6 Canada Institute of Botany the Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100093 China 

出 版 物：《Journal of Integrative Plant Biology》 (植物学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2008年第50卷第12期

页      面：1570-1579页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 070601[理学-气象学] 0706[理学-大气科学] 

主　　题：climate change competition importance competition intensity interspecific interaction species-dependent variation. 

摘      要：How plant competition varies across environmental gradients has been a long debate among ecologists. We conducted a growth chamber experiment to determine the intensity and importance of competition for plants grown in changed environmental conditions. Festuca rubra and Trifolium pratense were grown in monoculture and in two- and/or three- species mixtures under three environmental treatments. The measured competitive variations in terms of growth （height and biomass） were species-dependent. Competition intensity for Festuca increased with decreased productivity, whilst competition importance displayed a humpback response. However, significant response was detected in neither competition intensity nor importance for Trifolium. Intensity and importance of competition followed different response patterns, suggesting that they may not be correlated along an environmental gradient. The biological and physiological variables of plants play an important role to determine the interspecific competition associated with competition intensity and importance. However, the competitive feature can be modified by multiple environmental changes which may increase or hinder how competitive a plant is.