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Opposing community assembly patterns for dominant and non-dominant plant species in herbaceous ecosystems globally
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  • Carlos Alberto Arnillas,
  • Elizabeth Borer,
  • Eric Seabloom,
  • Juan Alberti,
  • Selene Baez,
  • Jonathon Bakker,
  • Elizabeth Boughton,
  • Yvonne Buckley,
  • Miguel Bugalho,
  • Ian Donohue,
  • John Dwyer ,
  • Jennifer Firn,
  • Riley Gridzak,
  • Nicole Hagenah,
  • Yann Hautier,
  • Aveliina Helm,
  • Anke Jentsch,
  • Johannes (Jean) M H Knops,
  • Kimberly (La Pierre) Komatsu,
  • Lauri Laanisto,
  • Ramesh Laungani,
  • Rebecca McCulley,
  • Joslin Moore,
  • John Morgan,
  • Pablo Peri,
  • Sally Power,
  • Jodi Price,
  • Mahesh Sankaran,
  • Brandon Schamp,
  • Karina Speziale,
  • Rachel Standish,
  • Risto Virtanen,
  • Marc Cadotte
Carlos Alberto Arnillas
University of Toronto at Scarborough

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Elizabeth Borer
University of Minnesota
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Eric Seabloom
University of Minnesota
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Juan Alberti
Laboratorio de Ecología, Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
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Selene Baez
Escuela Politécnica Nacional
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Jonathon Bakker
University of Washington
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Elizabeth Boughton
Archbold Biological Station
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Yvonne Buckley
Trinity College Dublin
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Miguel Bugalho
Centre of Applied Ecology “Prof. Baeta Neves” (CEABN- InBIO), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon
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Ian Donohue
Trinity College Dublin
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John Dwyer
The University of Queensland
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Jennifer Firn
Queensland University of Technology
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Riley Gridzak
Queen's University
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Nicole Hagenah
University of Pretoria Mammal Research Institute
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Yann Hautier
Universiteit Utrecht
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Aveliina Helm
University of Tartu
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Anke Jentsch
University of Bayreuth
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Johannes (Jean) M H Knops
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
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Kimberly (La Pierre) Komatsu
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
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Lauri Laanisto
Eesti Maaulikool
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Ramesh Laungani
Doane University
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Rebecca McCulley
University of Kentucky
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Joslin Moore
Monash University
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John Morgan
La Trobe University
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Pablo Peri
INTA
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Sally Power
University of Western Sydney
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Jodi Price
Charles Sturt University
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Mahesh Sankaran
National Centre for Biological Sciences
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Brandon Schamp
Algoma University
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Karina Speziale
Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente
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Rachel Standish
Murdoch University
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Risto Virtanen
Oulun Yliopisto
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Marc Cadotte
University of Toronto
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Abstract

Dominant and non-dominant plants could be subject to different biotic and abiotic influences, partially because dominant plants modify the environment where non-dominant plants grow, causing an interaction asymmetry. Among other possibilities, if dominant plants compete strongly, they should deplete most resources forcing non-dominant plants into a more constrained niche space. Conversely, if dominant plants are constrained by the environment, they might not fully deplete available resources but instead ameliorate some of the environmental constraints limiting non-dominants. Hence, the nature of the interactions between the non-dominants could be modified by dominant species. However, when plant competition and environmental constraints have similar effects on dominant and non-dominant species no difference is expected. By estimating phylogenetic dispersion in 78 grasslands across five continents, we found that dominant species were clustered (underdispersed), suggesting dominant species are likely organized by environmental filtering, and that non-dominant species were either randomly assembled or overdispersed. Traits showed similar trends, but insufficient data prevented further analyses. Furthermore, several lineages scattered in the phylogeny had more non-dominant species, suggesting that traits related to non-dominants are phylogenetically conserved and have evolved multiple times. We found some environmental drivers of the dominant—non-dominant disparity. Our results indicate that assembly patterns for dominants and non-dominants are different, consistent with asymmetries in assembly mechanisms. Among the different mechanisms we evaluated, the results suggest two complementary hypotheses seldom explored: (1) Non-dominant species include lineages adapted to thrive in the environment generated by the dominant species. (2) Even when dominant species reduce resources to non-dominant ones, dominant species could have a stronger effect on—at least—some non-dominants by ameliorating the impact of the environment on them, than by depleting resources and increasing the environmental stress to those non-dominants. The results show that the dominant–non-dominant asymmetry has ecological and evolutionary consequences fundamental to understand plant communities.
18 May 2021Submitted to Ecology and Evolution
18 May 2021Submission Checks Completed
18 May 2021Assigned to Editor
21 May 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
28 Jun 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
14 Aug 20211st Revision Received
15 Aug 2021Submission Checks Completed
15 Aug 2021Assigned to Editor
15 Aug 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
18 Sep 2021Editorial Decision: Accept