@article{GarciaCamachoMetzBiltonetal.2017,
  author    = {Garc{\´i}a-Camacho, Ra{\´u}l and Metz, Johannes and Bilton, Mark C. and Tielboerger, Katja},
  title     = {Phylogenetic structure of annual plant communities along an aridity gradient},
  series = {Israel Journal of Plant Sciences},
  volume    = {64},
  journal   = {Israel Journal of Plant Sciences},
  number    = {1-2},
  publisher = {Taylor \& Francis},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0792-9978},
  doi       = {10.1080/07929978.2017.1288477},
  pages     = {122 -- 134},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {The phylogenetic structure of communities (PSC) reveals how evolutionary history affects community assembly processes. However, there are important knowledge gaps on PSC patterns for annual communities and there is a need for studies along environmental gradients in dry ecosystems where several processes shape PSC. Here, we investigated the PSC of annual plants along an aridity gradient in Israel, including eight years, two spatial scales, the effects of shrubs on understory, and the phylogenetic signal of important traits. Increasing drought stress led to overdispersed PSC at the drier end of the gradient, indicating that species were less related than expected by chance. This was supported at a smaller spatial scale, where within the drier sites, communities in open- more arid- habitats were more overdispersed than those under nurse shrubs. Interestingly, some key traits related to drought resistance were not conserved in the phylogeny. Together, our findings suggested that while habitat filtering selected for drought resistance strategies, these strategies evolved independently along multiple contrasting evolutionary lineages. Our comprehensive PSC study provides strong evidence for the interacting effects of habitat filtering and plant- plant interactions, particularly highlighting that the conservative evolution of traits should not be assumed in future interpretations of PSC patterns.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BiltonMetzTielboerger2016,
  author    = {Bilton, Mark C. and Metz, Johannes and Tielboerger, Katja},
  title     = {Climatic niche groups: A novel application of a common assumption predicting plant community response to climate change},
  series = {Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics},
  volume    = {19},
  journal   = {Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Jena},
  issn      = {1433-8319},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.ppees.2016.02.006},
  pages     = {61 -- 69},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Defining species by their climatic niche is the simple and intuitive principle underlying Bioclimatic Envelope Model (BEM) predictions for climate change effects. However, these correlative models are often criticised for neglecting many ecological processes. Here, we apply the same niche principle to entire communities within a medium/long-term climate manipulation study, where ecological processes are inherently included. In a nine generation study in Israel, we manipulated rainfall (Drought -30\%; Irrigation +30\%; Control natural rainfall) at two sites which differ chiefly in rainfall quantity and variability. We analysed community responses to the manipulations by grouping species based on their climatic rainfall niche. These responses were compared to analyses based on single species, total densities, and commonly used taxonomic groupings. Climate Niche Groups yielded clear and consistent results: within communities, those species distributed in drier regions performed relatively better in the drought treatment, and those from wetter climates performed better when irrigated. In contrast, analyses based on other principles revealed little insight into community dynamics. Notably, most relationships were weaker at the drier, more variable site, suggesting that enhanced adaptation to variability may buffer climate change impacts. We provide robust experimental evidence that using climatic niches commonly applied in BEMs is a valid approach for eliciting community changes in response to climate change. However, we also argue that additional empirical information needs to be gathered using experiments in situ to correctly assess community vulnerability. Climatic Niche Groups used in this way, may therefore provide a powerful tool and directional testing framework to generalise and compare climate change impacts across habitats. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.},
  language  = {en}
}