Rodent seed predators and a dominant grass competitor affect coexistence of co-occurring forb species that vary in seed size

Abstract

Propagule size and number often vary by several orders of magnitude among co-occurring plant species. Explaining the maintenance of this variation and understanding how propagule size contributes to coexistence remain a central challenge for community ecologists. The dominant paradigm is that a competition-colonization trade‐off maintains interspecific variation in seed size, but empirical support is limited and other coexistence mechanisms, such as size‐dependent seed predation, have not been examined.

Citation

Maron, John L.; Hajek, Karyn L.; Hahn, Philip G.; Pearson, Dean E. 2018. Rodent seed predators and a dominant grass competitor affect coexistence of co-occurring forb species that vary in seed size. Journal of Ecology. 106: 1795-1805.