@article{SeifanSeifanSchiffersetal.2013,
  author    = {Seifan, Merav and Seifan, Tal and Schiffers, Katja and Jeltsch, Florian and Tielboerger, Katja},
  title     = {Beyond the competition-colonization trade-off - linking multiple trait response to disturbance characteristics},
  series = {The American naturalist : a bi-monthly journal devoted to the advancement and correlation of the biological sciences},
  volume    = {181},
  journal   = {The American naturalist : a bi-monthly journal devoted to the advancement and correlation of the biological sciences},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Univ. of Chicago Press},
  address   = {Chicago},
  issn      = {0003-0147},
  doi       = {10.1086/668844},
  pages     = {151 -- 160},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Disturbances' role in shaping communities is well documented but highly disputed. We suggest replacing the overused two-trait trade-off approach with a functional group scheme, constructed from combinations of four key traits that represent four classes of species' responses to disturbances. Using model results and field observations from sites affected by two highly different disturbances, we demonstrated that popular dichotomous trade-offs are not sufficient to explain community dynamics, even if some emerge under certain conditions. Without disturbances, competition was only sufficient to predict species survival but not relative success, which required some escape mechanism (e.g., long-term dormancy). With highly predictable and large-scale disturbances, successful species showed a combination of high individual tolerance to disturbance and, more surprisingly, high competitive ability. When disturbances were less predictable, high individual tolerance and long-term seed dormancy were favored, due to higher environmental uncertainty. Our study demonstrates that theories relying on a small number of predefined trade-offs among traits (e.g., competition-colonization trade-off) may lead to unrealistic results. We suggest that the understanding of disturbance-community relationships can be significantly improved by employing sets of relevant trait assemblies instead of the currently common approach in which trade-offs are assumed in advance.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchiffersTielboergerTietjenetal.2011,
  author    = {Schiffers, Katja and Tielboerger, Katja and Tietjen, Britta and Jeltsch, Florian},
  title     = {Root plasticity buffers competition among plants theory meets experimental data},
  series = {Ecology : a publication of the Ecological Society of America},
  volume    = {92},
  journal   = {Ecology : a publication of the Ecological Society of America},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {0012-9658},
  pages     = {610 -- 620},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Morphological plasticity is a striking characteristic of plants in natural communities. In the context of foraging behavior particularly, root plasticity has been documented for numerous species. Root plasticity is known to mitigate competitive interactions by reducing the overlap of the individuals' rhizospheres. But despite its obvious effect on resource acquisition, plasticity has been generally neglected in previous empirical and theoretical studies estimating interaction intensity among plants. In this study, we developed a semi-mechanistic model that addresses this shortcoming by introducing the idea of compensatory growth into the classical-zone-of influence (ZOI) and field-of-neighborhood (FON) approaches. The model parameters describing the belowground plastic sphere of influence (PSI) were parameterized using data from an accompanying field experiment. Measurements of the uptake of a stable nutrient analogue at distinct distances to the neighboring plants showed that the study species responded plastically to belowground competition by avoiding overlap of individuals' rhizospheres. An unexpected finding was that the sphere of influence of the study species Bromus hordeaceus could be best described by a unimodal function of distance to the plant's center and not with a continuously decreasing function as commonly assumed. We employed the parameterized model to investigate the interplay between plasticity and two other important factors determining the intensity of competitive interactions: overall plant density and the distribution of individuals in space. The simulation results confirm that the reduction of competition intensity due to morphological plasticity strongly depends on the spatial structure of the competitive environment. We advocate the use of semi-mechanistic simulations that explicitly consider morphological plasticity to improve our mechanistic understanding of plant interactions.},
  language  = {en}
}