Ontogenetic trait variation and metacommunity effects influence species relative abundances during tree community assembly

• Published in: Plant diversity Vol. 44; no. 4; pp. 360 - 368
• Main Authors: He, Yun-Yun, Srisombut, Kwansupa, Xing, Ding-Liang, Swenson, Nanthan G., Asefa, Mengesha, Cao, Min, Song, Xiao-Yang, Wen, Han-Dong, Yang, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.07.2022; Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences; KeAi Communications Co., Ltd
• Subjects: Community assembly; Maximum entropy; Metacommunity; Ontogenetic trait variation; Research Paper; Trait-selected process; Community assembly; Ontogenetic trait variation; Metacommunity; Maximum entropy; Trait-selected process
• ISSN: 2468-2659; 2096-2703; 2468-2659
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pld.2021.09.002

Predicting species abundance is one of the most fundamental pursuits of ecology. Combining the information encoded in functional traits and metacommunities provides a new perspective to predict the abundance of species in communities. We applied a community assembly via trait selection model to predict quadrat-scale species abundances using functional trait variation on ontogenetic stages and metacommunity information for over 490 plant species in a subtropical forest and a lowland tropical forest in Yunnan, China. The relative importance of trait-based selection, mass effects, and stochasticity in shaping local species abundances is evaluated using different null models. We found both mass effects and trait selection contribute to local abundance patterns. Trait selection was detectable at all studied spatial scales (0.04–1 ha), with its strength stronger at larger scales and in the subtropical forest. In contrast, the importance of stochasticity decreased with spatial scale. A significant mass effect of the metacommunity was observed at small spatial scales. Our results indicate that tree community assembly is primarily driven by ontogenetic traits and metacommunity effects. Our findings also demonstrate that including ontogenetic trait variation into predictive frameworks allows ecologists to infer ecological mechanisms operating in community assembly at the individual level. •Combining functional traits with information encoded in metacommunities provides a new perspective for predicting species abundance in communities.•We applied a community assembly via trait selection model to predict quadrat-scale species abundances and estimated the relative importance of trait-based selection, mass effects, and stochasticity on the assembly of tree communities.•Both mass effects and trait selection contribute to local abundance patterns.•Our results suggest that ontogenetic traits and metacommunity context primarily account for tree community assembly.