TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hanz, Dagmar Martina
A1  - Beloiu, Mirela
A1  - Wipfler, Raja
A1  - Beierkuhnlein, Carl
A1  - Field, Richard
A1  - Jentsch-Beierkuhnlein, Anke
A1  - Vetaas, Ole Reidar
A1  - Irl, Severin
T1  - High species turnover and low intraspecific trait variation in endemic and non-endemic plant species assemblages on an oceanic island
T2  - Journal of vegetation science
N2  - Questions: Both species turnover and intraspecific trait variation can affect plant assemblage dynamics along environmental gradients. Here, we asked how community assemblage patterns in relation to species turnover and intraspecific variation differ between endemic and non-endemic species. We hypothesized that endemic species show lower intraspecific variation than non-endemic species because they tend to have high rates of in situ speciation, whereas non-endemic species are expected to have a larger gene pool and higher phenotypic plasticity.
Location: La Palma, Canary Islands.
Methods: We established 44 sampling sites along a directional gradient of precipitation, heat load, soil nitrogen, phosphorus and pH. Along this gradient, we estimated species abundances and measured three traits (plant height, leaf area and leaf thickness) on perennial endemic and non-endemic plant species. In total, we recorded traits for 1,223 plant individuals of 43 species. Subsequently, we calculated community-weighted mean traits to measure the relative contribution of species turnover, intraspecific variation and their covariation along the analysed gradient.
Results: The contribution of intraspecific variation to total variation was similar in endemic and non-endemic assemblages. For plant height, intraspecific variation explained roughly as much variation as species turnover. For leaf area and leaf thickness, intraspecific variation explained almost no variation. Species turnover effects mainly drove trait responses along the environmental gradient, but intraspecific variation was important for responses in leaf area to precipitation.
Conclusions: Despite their distinct evolutionary history, endemic and non-endemic plant assemblages show similar patterns in species turnover and intraspecific variation. Our results indicate that species turnover is the main component of trait variation in the underlying study system. However, intraspecific variation can increase individual species’ fitness in response to precipitation. Overall, our study challenges the theory that intraspecific trait variation is more important for the establishment of non-endemic species compared with endemic species.
KW  - intraspecific variation
KW  - oceanic islands
KW  - precipitation
KW  - soil acidity
KW  - soil nutrients
KW  - species turnover
KW  - succulent scrub
KW  - traits
Y1  - 2022
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/75588
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-755886
SN  - 1654-1103
N1  - Open access funding enabled and organized by ProjektDEAL.
N1  - This work was funded by the ECOPOTENTIAL project – EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement No. 641762, and the Elite Network of Bavaria, an initiative of the Free State of Bavaria.
VL  - 33
IS  - 1, e13120
SP  - 1
EP  - 11
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Malden, MA [u.a.]
ER  -