Hydrological niches in terrestrial plant communities: a review
- Submitting institution
-
The Open University
- Unit of assessment
- 7 - Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences
- Output identifier
- 1454356
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1111/1365-2745.12332
- Title of journal
- Journal of Ecology
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 93
- Volume
- 103
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 0022-0477
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- October
- Year of publication
- 2014
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
2
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Citation count
- 149
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The Araya et al. paper draws on 48 published reports, identified by a systematic review of the literature, to demonstrate the widespread occurrence of hydrological niche segregation and to explore the mechanisms by which it operates. For the first time, these mechanisms are explicitly classified into three types (one relating to soil moisture status, one to leaf gas-exchange and one to hydraulic architecture), each involving a specific trade-off. This investigation has therefore led to new insight into the factors driving hydrological niche segregation (HNS). The results presented in the 48 investigated reports were interpreted to determine whether HNS was operating and, if so, which mechanism was the likely driver. The methods of characterizing the systems were so diverse that statistical analysis of the relative strength of HNS was not possible. However the qualitative categorization of the systems that we implemented nevertheless went beyond the scope of a standard review. In our article we made a case for investigating interspecific root competition in future studies to allow the mechanism of niche segregation to be further defined. An additional novelty in the paper is an exposition of why HNS is important with respect to global environmental change. We highlight that HNS is often linked to the trade-off between soil moisture status and oxygen availability, both of which will shift in an altered climate. The article concludes that because future changes in the composition of vegetation communities in response to an altered climate are more likely to be linked to hydrological regime than they are to temperature regime, a mechanistic understanding of how species compete in a hydrologically variable world is crucial.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -