Fukami, T., Bezemer, TM, Mortimer, SR & van der Putten, WH 2005. Species divergence and trait convergence in experimental plant community assembly. Ecol. Lett. 8:1283-1290.
This study takes an experimental approach to looking at the role of history in community assembly in a grassland system. At the outset of the study, plots were seeded with one of six different seed mixes (different species composition; there was also a non-seeded control). Species composition and functional trait composition were followed over a 9 year period. The authors found that species composition remained different between the different treatments over the study period while all treatments converged towards a similar composition of functional groups.
Pros: I thought this paper did a good job highlighting the importance of history in community assembly and was a nice complement to the core papers, espcially the Trowbridge paper. It also made me think about what a big difference it makes how functional groups are delineated (the groups in this study were fairly narrow and if they'd been broader the authors might not have seen significant results).
Cons: Focus on theory rather than practical application.
Photo Credit: John DiGregoria, NPS
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