@article{SchiffersTielboerger2006,
  author    = {Schiffers, Katja and Tielb{\"o}rger, Katja},
  title     = {Ontogenetic shifts in interactions among annual plants},
  doi       = {10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01097.x},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {1.Interactions among plants are key processes that strongly influence the structure and dynamics of plant populations and communities. However, most empirical studies of plant-plant inter­actions failed to repeatedly measure the plants? response to neighboring individuals and thereby neglected possible changes in interactions through­out the life history of the plants.2.Here, we tested the hypo­thesis that competition between annual species intensifies from early to late life history stages. To test this hypothesis, we sequentially measured interactions at different levels of water stress. 3.For this purpose, we con­ducted neighbor-removal experiments in three study sites located along a climatic gradient in Israel. The two annual species Biscutella didyma and Hymenocarpos circinnatus were used as target plants. They grew with and without neighbors in their natural habitats. Five response variables, according to the consecutive life-history stages, (seedling survival, juvenile biomass, adult survival, number of seeds and final biomass) were recorded through­out the whole growing season. 4.The results suggest that direction and inten­sity of inter­actions varied consider­ably between environ­ments and life stages. On average, growth-related response variables indicated higher competition intensity at the productive end of the climatic gradient, while survival indicated either facilitation at the dry end or no trend along the gradient. 5.Considering the temporal aspect, moderate facili­tation short after germi­nation shifted to strong compe­tition at the end of the growing season. 6.Our results highlight that the outcome of experi­mental studies on plant-plant inter­actions may not only depend on the environ­mental productivity but even more on the life stage at which a target plant is found.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{KoechyTielboerger2006,
  author    = {K{\"o}chy, Martin and Tielb{\"o}rger, Katja},
  title     = {Hydrothermal time model of germination : parameters for 36 Mediterranean annual species based on a simplified approach},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-12406},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Germination rates and germination fractions of seeds can be predicted well by the hydrothermal time (HTT) model. Its four parameters hydrothermal time, minimum soil temperature, minimum soil moisture, and variation of minimum soil moisture, however, must be determined by lengthy germination experiments at combinations of several levels of soil temperature and moisture. For some applications of the HTT model it is more important to have approximate estimates for many species rather than exact values for only a few species. We suggest that minimum temperature and variation of minimum moisture can be estimated from literature data and expert knowledge. This allows to derive hydrothermal time and minimum moisture from existing data from germination experiments with one level of temperature and moisture. We applied our approach to a germination experiment comparing germination fractions of wild annual species along an aridity gradient in Israel. Using this simplified approach we estimated hydrothermal time and minimum moisture of 36 species. Comparison with exact data for three species shows that our method is a simple but effective method for obtaining parameters for the HTT model. Hydrothermal time and minimum moisture supposedly indicate climate related germination strategies. We tested whether these two parameters varied with the climate at the site where the seeds had been collected. We found no consistent variation with climate across species, suggesting that variation is more strongly controlled by site-specific factors.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PetruTielboergerBelkinetal.2006,
  author    = {Petru, Martina and Tielb{\"o}rger, Katja and Belkin, Ruthie and Sternberg, Marcelo and Jeltsch, Florian},
  title     = {Life history variation in an annual plant under two opposing environmental constraints along an aridity gradient},
  doi       = {10.1111/j.2005.0906-7590.04310.x},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Environmental gradients represent an ideal framework for studying adaptive variation in the life history of plant species. However, on very steep gradients, largely contrasting conditions at the two gradient ends often limit the distribution of the same species across the whole range of environmental conditions. Here, we study phenotypic variation in a winter annual crucifer Biscutella didyma persisting along a steep gradient of increasing rainfall in Israel. In particular, we explored whether the life history at the arid end of the gradient indicates adaptations to drought and unpredictable conditions, while adaptations to the highly competitive environment prevail at the mesic Mediterranean end. We examined several morphological and reproductive traits in four natural populations and in populations cultivated in standard common environment. Plants from arid environments were faster in phenological development, more branched in architecture and tended to maximize reproduction, while the Mediterranean plants invested mainly in vertical vegetative growth. Differences between cultivation and field in diaspore production were very large for arid populations as opposed to Mediterranean ones, indicating a larger potential to increase reproduction under favorable conditions. Our overall findings indicate two strongly opposing selective forces at the two extremes of the aridity gradient, which result in contrasting strategies within the studied annual plant species},
  language  = {en}
}