TY  - JOUR
A1  - Warrington, Nicole
A1  - Beaumont, Robin
A1  - Horikoshi, Momoko
A1  - Day, Felix R.
A1  - Helgeland, Øyvind
A1  - Laurin, Charles
A1  - Bacelis, Jonas
A1  - Peng, Shouneng
A1  - Hao, Ke
A1  - Feenstra, Bjarke
A1  - Wood, Andrew R.
A1  - Mahajan, Anubha
A1  - Tyrrell, Jessica
A1  - Robertson, Neil R.
A1  - Rayner, N. William
A1  - Qiao, Zhen
A1  - Moen, Gunn-Helen
A1  - Vaudel, Marc
A1  - Marsit, Carmen
A1  - Chen, Jia
A1  - Nodzenski, Michael
A1  - Schnurr, Theresia M.
A1  - Zafarmand, Mohammad Hadi
A1  - Bradfield, Jonathan P.
A1  - Grarup, Niels
A1  - Kooijman, Marjolein N.
A1  - Li-Gao, Ruifang
A1  - Geller, Frank
A1  - Ahluwalia, Tarunveer Singh
A1  - Paternoster, Lavinia
A1  - Rueedi, Rico
A1  - Huikari, Ville
A1  - Hottenga, Jouke-Jan
A1  - Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka
A1  - Cavadino, Alana
A1  - Metrustry, Sarah
A1  - Cousminer, Diana L.
A1  - Wu, Ying
A1  - Thiering, Elisabeth Paula
A1  - Wang, Carol A.
A1  - Have, Christian Theil
A1  - Vilor-Tejedor, Natalia
A1  - Joshi, Peter K.
A1  - Painter, Jodie N.
A1  - Ntalla, Ioanna
A1  - Myhre, Ronny
A1  - Pitkänen, Niina
A1  - van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M.
A1  - Joro, Raimo
A1  - Lagou, Vasiliki
A1  - Richmond, Rebecca C.
A1  - Espinosa, Ana
A1  - Barton, Sheila J.
A1  - Inskip, Hazel M.
A1  - Holloway, John W.
A1  - Santa-Marina, Loreto
A1  - Estivill, Xavier
A1  - Ang, Wei
A1  - Marsh, Julie A.
A1  - Reichetzeder, Christoph
A1  - Marullo, Letizia
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
A1  - Lunetta, Kathryn L.
A1  - Murabito, Joanne M.
A1  - Relton, Caroline L.
A1  - Kogevinas, Manolis
A1  - Chatzi, Leda
A1  - Allard, Catherine
A1  - Bouchard, Luigi
A1  - Hivert, Marie-France
A1  - Zhang, Ge
A1  - Muglia, Louis J.
A1  - Heikkinen, Jani
A1  - Morgen, Camilla S.
A1  - van Kampen, Antoine H. C.
A1  - van Schaik, Barbera D. C.
A1  - Mentch, Frank D.
A1  - Langenberg, Claudia
A1  - Scott, Robert A.
A1  - Zhao, Jing Hua
A1  - Hemani, Gibran
A1  - Ring, Susan M.
A1  - Bennett, Amanda J.
A1  - Gaulton, Kyle J.
A1  - Fernandez-Tajes, Juan
A1  - van Zuydam, Natalie R.
A1  - Medina-Gomez, Carolina
A1  - de Haan, Hugoline G.
A1  - Rosendaal, Frits R.
A1  - Kutalik, Zoltán
A1  - Marques-Vidal, Pedro
A1  - Das, Shikta
A1  - Willemsen, Gonneke
A1  - Mbarek, Hamdi
A1  - Müller-Nurasyid, Martina
A1  - Standl, Marie
A1  - Appel, Emil V. R.
A1  - Fonvig, Cilius Esmann
A1  - Trier, Caecilie
A1  - van Beijsterveldt, Catharina E. M.
A1  - Murcia, Mario
A1  - Bustamante, Mariona
A1  - Bonàs-Guarch, Sílvia
A1  - Hougaard, David M.
A1  - Mercader, Josep M.
A1  - Linneberg, Allan
A1  - Schraut, Katharina E.
A1  - Lind, Penelope A.
A1  - Medland, Sarah Elizabeth
A1  - Shields, Beverley M.
A1  - Knight, Bridget A.
A1  - Chai, Jin-Fang
A1  - Panoutsopoulou, Kalliope
A1  - Bartels, Meike
A1  - Sánchez, Friman
A1  - Stokholm, Jakob
A1  - Torrents, David
A1  - Vinding, Rebecca K.
A1  - Willems, Sara M.
A1  - Atalay, Mustafa
A1  - Chawes, Bo L.
A1  - Kovacs, Peter
A1  - Prokopenko, Inga
A1  - Tuke, Marcus A.
A1  - Yaghootkar, Hanieh
A1  - Ruth, Katherine S.
A1  - Jones, Samuel E.
A1  - Loh, Po-Ru
A1  - Murray, Anna
A1  - Weedon, Michael N.
A1  - Tönjes, Anke
A1  - Stumvoll, Michael
A1  - Michaelsen, Kim Fleischer
A1  - Eloranta, Aino-Maija
A1  - Lakka, Timo A.
A1  - van Duijn, Cornelia M.
A1  - Kiess, Wieland
A1  - Koerner, Antje
A1  - Niinikoski, Harri
A1  - Pahkala, Katja
A1  - Raitakari, Olli T.
A1  - Jacobsson, Bo
A1  - Zeggini, Eleftheria
A1  - Dedoussis, George V.
A1  - Teo, Yik-Ying
A1  - Saw, Seang-Mei
A1  - Montgomery, Grant W.
A1  - Campbell, Harry
A1  - Wilson, James F.
A1  - Vrijkotte, Tanja G. M.
A1  - Vrijheid, Martine
A1  - de Geus, Eco J. C. N.
A1  - Hayes, M. Geoffrey
A1  - Kadarmideen, Haja N.
A1  - Holm, Jens-Christian
A1  - Beilin, Lawrence J.
A1  - Pennell, Craig E.
A1  - Heinrich, Joachim
A1  - Adair, Linda S.
A1  - Borja, Judith B.
A1  - Mohlke, Karen L.
A1  - Eriksson, Johan G.
A1  - Widen, Elisabeth E.
A1  - Hattersley, Andrew T.
A1  - Spector, Tim D.
A1  - Kaehoenen, Mika
A1  - Viikari, Jorma S.
A1  - Lehtimaeki, Terho
A1  - Boomsma, Dorret I.
A1  - Sebert, Sylvain
A1  - Vollenweider, Peter
A1  - Sorensen, Thorkild I. A.
A1  - Bisgaard, Hans
A1  - Bonnelykke, Klaus
A1  - Murray, Jeffrey C.
A1  - Melbye, Mads
A1  - Nohr, Ellen A.
A1  - Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O.
A1  - Rivadeneira, Fernando
A1  - Hofman, Albert
A1  - Felix, Janine F.
A1  - Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.
A1  - Hansen, Torben
A1  - Pisinger, Charlotta
A1  - Vaag, Allan A.
A1  - Pedersen, Oluf
A1  - Uitterlinden, Andre G.
A1  - Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta
A1  - Power, Christine
A1  - Hypponen, Elina
A1  - Scholtens, Denise M.
A1  - Lowe, William L.
A1  - Smith, George Davey
A1  - Timpson, Nicholas J.
A1  - Morris, Andrew P.
A1  - Wareham, Nicholas J.
A1  - Hakonarson, Hakon
A1  - Grant, Struan F. A.
A1  - Frayling, Timothy M.
A1  - Lawlor, Debbie A.
A1  - Njolstad, Pal R.
A1  - Johansson, Stefan
A1  - Ong, Ken K.
A1  - McCarthy, Mark I.
A1  - Perry, John R. B.
A1  - Evans, David M.
A1  - Freathy, Rachel M.
T1  - Maternal and fetal genetic effects on birth weight and their relevance to cardio-metabolic risk factors
JF  - Nature genetics
N2  - Birth weight variation is influenced by fetal and maternal genetic and non-genetic factors, and has been reproducibly associated with future cardio-metabolic health outcomes. In expanded genome-wide association analyses of own birth weight (n = 321,223) and offspring birth weight (n = 230,069 mothers), we identified 190 independent association signals (129 of which are novel). We used structural equation modeling to decompose the contributions of direct fetal and indirect maternal genetic effects, then applied Mendelian randomization to illuminate causal pathways. For example, both indirect maternal and direct fetal genetic effects drive the observational relationship between lower birth weight and higher later blood pressure: maternal blood pressure-raising alleles reduce offspring birth weight, but only direct fetal effects of these alleles, once inherited, increase later offspring blood pressure. Using maternal birth weight-lowering genotypes to proxy for an adverse intrauterine environment provided no evidence that it causally raises offspring blood pressure, indicating that the inverse birth weight-blood pressure association is attributable to genetic effects, and not to intrauterine programming.
Y1  - 2019
SN  - 1061-4036
SN  - 1546-1718
VL  - 51
IS  - 5
SP  - 804
EP  - +
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Middeldorp, Christel M.
A1  - Mahajan, Anubha
A1  - Horikoshi, Momoko
A1  - Robertson, Neil R.
A1  - Beaumont, Robin N.
A1  - Bradfield, Jonathan P.
A1  - Bustamante, Mariona
A1  - Cousminer, Diana L.
A1  - Day, Felix R.
A1  - De Silva, N. Maneka
A1  - Guxens, Monica
A1  - Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O.
A1  - St Pourcain, Beate
A1  - Warrington, Nicole M.
A1  - Adair, Linda S.
A1  - Ahlqvist, Emma
A1  - Ahluwalia, Tarunveer Singh
A1  - Almgren, Peter
A1  - Ang, Wei
A1  - Atalay, Mustafa
A1  - Auvinen, Juha
A1  - Bartels, Meike
A1  - Beckmann, Jacques S.
A1  - Bilbao, Jose Ramon
A1  - Bond, Tom
A1  - Borja, Judith B.
A1  - Cavadino, Alana
A1  - Charoen, Pimphen
A1  - Chen, Zhanghua
A1  - Coin, Lachlan
A1  - Cooper, Cyrus
A1  - Curtin, John A.
A1  - Custovic, Adnan
A1  - Das, Shikta
A1  - Davies, Gareth E.
A1  - Dedoussis, George V.
A1  - Duijts, Liesbeth
A1  - Eastwood, Peter R.
A1  - Eliasen, Anders U.
A1  - Elliott, Paul
A1  - Eriksson, Johan G.
A1  - Estivill, Xavier
A1  - Fadista, Joao
A1  - Fedko, Iryna O.
A1  - Frayling, Timothy M.
A1  - Gaillard, Romy
A1  - Gauderman, W. James
A1  - Geller, Frank
A1  - Gilliland, Frank
A1  - Gilsanz, Vincente
A1  - Granell, Raquel
A1  - Grarup, Niels
A1  - Groop, Leif
A1  - Hadley, Dexter
A1  - Hakonarson, Hakon
A1  - Hansen, Torben
A1  - Hartman, Catharina A.
A1  - Hattersley, Andrew T.
A1  - Hayes, M. Geoffrey
A1  - Hebebrand, Johannes
A1  - Heinrich, Joachim
A1  - Helgeland, Oyvind
A1  - Henders, Anjali K.
A1  - Henderson, John
A1  - Henriksen, Tine B.
A1  - Hirschhorn, Joel N.
A1  - Hivert, Marie-France
A1  - Hocher, Berthold
A1  - Holloway, John W.
A1  - Holt, Patrick
A1  - Hottenga, Jouke-Jan
A1  - Hypponen, Elina
A1  - Iniguez, Carmen
A1  - Johansson, Stefan
A1  - Jugessur, Astanand
A1  - Kahonen, Mika
A1  - Kalkwarf, Heidi J.
A1  - Kaprio, Jaakko
A1  - Karhunen, Ville
A1  - Kemp, John P.
A1  - Kerkhof, Marjan
A1  - Koppelman, Gerard H.
A1  - Korner, Antje
A1  - Kotecha, Sailesh
A1  - Kreiner-Moller, Eskil
A1  - Kulohoma, Benard
A1  - Kumar, Ashish
A1  - Kutalik, Zoltan
A1  - Lahti, Jari
A1  - Lappe, Joan M.
A1  - Larsson, Henrik
A1  - Lehtimaki, Terho
A1  - Lewin, Alexandra M.
A1  - Li, Jin
A1  - Lichtenstein, Paul
A1  - Lindgren, Cecilia M.
A1  - Lindi, Virpi
A1  - Linneberg, Allan
A1  - Liu, Xueping
A1  - Liu, Jun
A1  - Lowe, William L.
A1  - Lundstrom, Sebastian
A1  - Lyytikainen, Leo-Pekka
A1  - Ma, Ronald C. W.
A1  - Mace, Aurelien
A1  - Magi, Reedik
A1  - Magnus, Per
A1  - Mamun, Abdullah A.
A1  - Mannikko, Minna
A1  - Martin, Nicholas G.
A1  - Mbarek, Hamdi
A1  - McCarthy, Nina S.
A1  - Medland, Sarah E.
A1  - Melbye, Mads
A1  - Melen, Erik
A1  - Mohlke, Karen L.
A1  - Monnereau, Claire
A1  - Morgen, Camilla S.
A1  - Morris, Andrew P.
A1  - Murray, Jeffrey C.
A1  - Myhre, Ronny
A1  - Najman, Jackob M.
A1  - Nivard, Michel G.
A1  - Nohr, Ellen A.
A1  - Nolte, Ilja M.
A1  - Ntalla, Ioanna
A1  - Oberfield, Sharon E.
A1  - Oken, Emily
A1  - Oldehinkel, Albertine J.
A1  - Pahkala, Katja
A1  - Palviainen, Teemu
A1  - Panoutsopoulou, Kalliope
A1  - Pedersen, Oluf
A1  - Pennell, Craig E.
A1  - Pershagen, Goran
A1  - Pitkanen, Niina
A1  - Plomin, Robert
A1  - Power, Christine
A1  - Prasad, Rashmi B.
A1  - Prokopenko, Inga
A1  - Pulkkinen, Lea
A1  - Raikkonen, Katri
A1  - Raitakari, Olli T.
A1  - Reynolds, Rebecca M.
A1  - Richmond, Rebecca C.
A1  - Rivadeneira, Fernando
A1  - Rodriguez, Alina
A1  - Rose, Richard J.
A1  - Salem, Rany
A1  - Santa-Marina, Loreto
A1  - Saw, Seang-Mei
A1  - Schnurr, Theresia M.
A1  - Scott, James G.
A1  - Selzam, Saskia
A1  - Shepherd, John A.
A1  - Simpson, Angela
A1  - Skotte, Line
A1  - Sleiman, Patrick M. A.
A1  - Snieder, Harold
A1  - Sorensen, Thorkild I. A.
A1  - Standl, Marie
A1  - Steegers, Eric A. P.
A1  - Strachan, David P.
A1  - Straker, Leon
A1  - Strandberg, Timo
A1  - Taylor, Michelle
A1  - Teo, Yik-Ying
A1  - Thiering, Elisabeth
A1  - Torrent, Maties
A1  - Tyrrell, Jessica
A1  - Uitterlinden, Andre G.
A1  - van Beijsterveldt, Toos
A1  - van der Most, Peter J.
A1  - van Duijn, Cornelia M.
A1  - Viikari, Jorma
A1  - Vilor-Tejedor, Natalia
A1  - Vogelezang, Suzanne
A1  - Vonk, Judith M.
A1  - Vrijkotte, Tanja G. M.
A1  - Vuoksimaa, Eero
A1  - Wang, Carol A.
A1  - Watkins, William J.
A1  - Wichmann, H-Erich
A1  - Willemsen, Gonneke
A1  - Williams, Gail M.
A1  - Wilson, James F.
A1  - Wray, Naomi R.
A1  - Xu, Shujing
A1  - Xu, Cheng-Jian
A1  - Yaghootkar, Hanieh
A1  - Yi, Lu
A1  - Zafarmand, Mohammad Hadi
A1  - Zeggini, Eleftheria
A1  - Zemel, Babette S.
A1  - Hinney, Anke
A1  - Lakka, Timo A.
A1  - Whitehouse, Andrew J. O.
A1  - Sunyer, Jordi
A1  - Widen, Elisabeth E.
A1  - Feenstra, Bjarke
A1  - Sebert, Sylvain
A1  - Jacobsson, Bo
A1  - Njolstad, Pal R.
A1  - Stoltenberg, Camilla
A1  - Smith, George Davey
A1  - Lawlor, Debbie A.
A1  - Paternoster, Lavinia
A1  - Timpson, Nicholas J.
A1  - Ong, Ken K.
A1  - Bisgaard, Hans
A1  - Bonnelykke, Klaus
A1  - Jaddoe, Vincent W. V.
A1  - Tiemeier, Henning
A1  - Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta
A1  - Evans, David M.
A1  - Perry, John R. B.
A1  - Grant, Struan F. A.
A1  - Boomsma, Dorret I.
A1  - Freathy, Rachel M.
A1  - McCarthy, Mark I.
A1  - Felix, Janine F.
T1  - The Early Growth Genetics (EGG) and EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortia
BT  - design, results and future prospects
JF  - European journal of epidemiology
N2  - The impact of many unfavorable childhood traits or diseases, such as low birth weight and mental disorders, is not limited to childhood and adolescence, as they are also associated with poor outcomes in adulthood, such as cardiovascular disease. Insight into the genetic etiology of childhood and adolescent traits and disorders may therefore provide new perspectives, not only on how to improve wellbeing during childhood, but also how to prevent later adverse outcomes. To achieve the sample sizes required for genetic research, the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) and EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortia were established. The majority of the participating cohorts are longitudinal population-based samples, but other cohorts with data on early childhood phenotypes are also involved. Cohorts often have a broad focus and collect(ed) data on various somatic and psychiatric traits as well as environmental factors. Genetic variants have been successfully identified for multiple traits, for example, birth weight, atopic dermatitis, childhood BMI, allergic sensitization, and pubertal growth. Furthermore, the results have shown that genetic factors also partly underlie the association with adult traits. As sample sizes are still increasing, it is expected that future analyses will identify additional variants. This, in combination with the development of innovative statistical methods, will provide detailed insight on the mechanisms underlying the transition from childhood to adult disorders. Both consortia welcome new collaborations. Policies and contact details are available from the corresponding authors of this manuscript and/or the consortium websites.
KW  - Genetics
KW  - Consortium
KW  - Childhood traits and disorders
KW  - Longitudinal
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-019-00502-9
SN  - 0393-2990
SN  - 1573-7284
VL  - 34
IS  - 3
SP  - 279
EP  - 300
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Esther, Alexandra
A1  - Groeneveld, Juergen
A1  - Enright, Neal J.
A1  - Miller, Ben P.
A1  - Lamont, Byron B.
A1  - Perry, George L. W.
A1  - Blank, F. Benjamin
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - Sensitivity of plant functional types to climate change : classification tree analysis of a simulation model
N2  - Question: The majority of studies investigating the impact of climate change on local plant communities ignores changes in regional processes, such as immigration from the regional seed pool. Here we explore: (i) the potential impact of climate change on composition of the regional seed pool, (ii) the influence of changes in climate and in the regional seed pool on local community structure, and (iii) the combinations of life history traits, i.e. plant functional types (PFTs), that are most affected by environmental changes. Location: Fire-prone, Mediterranean-type shrublands in southwestern Australia. Methods: Spatially explicit simulation experiments were conducted at the population level under different rainfall and fire regime scenarios to determine the effect of environmental change on the regional seed pool for 38 PFTs. The effects of environmental and seed immigration changes on local community dynamics were then derived from community-level experiments. Classification tree analyses were used to investigate PFT- specific vulnerabilities to climate change. Results: The classification tree analyses revealed that responses of PFTs to climate change are determined by specific trait characteristics. PFT-specific seed production and community patterns responded in a complex manner to climate change. For example, an increase in annual rainfall caused an increase in numbers of dispersed seeds for some PFTs, but decreased PFT diversity in the community. Conversely, a simulated decrease in rainfall reduced the number of dispersed seeds and diversity of PFTs. Conclusions: PFT interactions and regional processes must be considered when assessing how local community structure will be affected by environmental change.
Y1  - 2010
UR  - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121642345/home
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1654-1103.2009.01155.x
SN  - 1100-9233
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Esther, Alexandra
A1  - Groeneveld, Jürgen
A1  - Enright, Neal J.
A1  - Miller, Ben P.
A1  - Lamont, Byron B.
A1  - Perry, George L. W.
A1  - Schurr, Frank Martin
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - Assessing the importance of seed immigration on coexistence of plant functional types in a species-rich ecosystem
N2  - Modelling and empirical studies have shown that input from the regional seed pool is essential to maintain local species diversity. However, most of these studies have concentrated on simplified, if not neutral, model systems, and focus on a limited subset of species or on aggregated measures of diversity only (e.g., species richness or Shannon diversity). Thus they ignore more complex species interactions and important differences between species. To gain a better understanding of how seed immigration affects community structure at the local scale in real communities we conducted computer simulation experiments based on plant functional types (PFTs) for a species-rich, fire-prone Mediterranean-type shrubland in Western Australia. We developed a spatially explicit simulation model to explore the community dynamics of 38 PFTs, defined by seven traits - regeneration mode, seed production, seed size, maximum crown diameter, drought tolerance, dispersal mode and seed bank type - representing 78 woody species. Model parameterisation is based on published and unpublished data on the population dynamics of shrub species collected over 18 years. Simulation experiments are based on two contrasting seed immigration scenarios: (1) the 'equal seed input number' scenario, where the number of immigrant seeds is the same for all PFTs, and (2) the 'equal seed input mass' scenario, where the cumulative mass of migrating seeds is the same for all PFTs. Both scenarios were systematically tested and compared for different overall seed input values. Without immigration the local community drifts towards a state with only 13 coexisting PFTs. With increasing immigration rates in terms of overall mass of seeds the simulated number of coexisting PFTs and Shannon diversity quickly approaches values observed in the field. The equal seed mass scenario resulted in a more diverse community than did the seed number scenario. The model successfully approximates the frequency distributions (relative densities) of all individual plant traits except seed size for scenarios associated with equal seed input mass and high immigration rate. However, no scenario satisfactorily approximated the frequency distribution for all traits in combination. Our results show that regional seed input can explain the more aggregated measures of local community structure, and some, but not all, aspects of community composition. This points to the possible importance of other (untested) processes and traits (e.g., dispersal vectors) operating at the local scale. Our modelling framework can readily allow new factors to be systematically investigated, which is a major advantage compared to previous simulation studies, as it allows us to find structurally realistic models, which can address questions pertinent to ecological theory and to conservation management.
Y1  - 2008
UR  - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03043800
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2008.01.014
SN  - 0304-3800
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Esther, Alexandra
A1  - Groeneveld, Jürgen
A1  - Enright, Neal J.
A1  - Miller, Ben P.
A1  - Lamont, Byron B.
A1  - Perry, George L. W.
A1  - Tietjen, Britta
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
T1  - Low-dimensional trade-offs fail to explain richness and structure in species-rich plant communities
JF  - Theoretical ecology
N2  - Mathematical models and ecological theory suggest that low-dimensional life history trade-offs (i.e. negative correlation between two life history traits such as competition vs. colonisation) may potentially explain the maintenance of species diversity and community structure. In the absence of trade-offs, we would expect communities to be dominated by 'super-types' characterised by mainly positive trait expressions. However, it has proven difficult to find strong empirical evidence for such trade-offs in species-rich communities. We developed a spatially explicit, rule-based and individual-based stochastic model to explore the importance of low-dimensional trade-offs. This model simulates the community dynamics of 288 virtual plant functional types (PFTs), each of which is described by seven life history traits. We consider trait combinations that fit into the trade-off concept, as well as super-types with little or no energy constraints or resource limitations, and weak PFTs, which do not exploit resources efficiently. The model is parameterised using data from a fire-prone, species-rich Mediterranean-type shrubland in southwestern Australia. We performed an exclusion experiment, where we sequentially removed the strongest PFT in the simulation and studied the remaining communities. We analysed the impact of traits on performance of PFTs in the exclusion experiment with standard and boosted regression trees. Regression tree analysis of the simulation results showed that the trade-off concept is necessary for PFT viability in the case of weak trait expression combinations such as low seed production or small seeds. However, species richness and diversity can be high despite the presence of super-types. Furthermore, the exclusion of super-types does not necessarily lead to a large increase in PFT richness and diversity. We conclude that low-dimensional trade-offs do not provide explanations for multi-species co-existence contrary to the prediction of many conceptual models.
KW  - Plant diversity
KW  - Plant functional types
KW  - Co-existence
KW  - Spatially explicit model
KW  - Individual-based model
KW  - CART
KW  - Regression tree analysis
KW  - Boosted regression tree
Y1  - 2011
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-010-0092-y
SN  - 1874-1738
VL  - 4
IS  - 4
SP  - 495
EP  - 511
PB  - Springer
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  -