Insularity promotes plant persistence strategies in edaphic island systems
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Global Ecology and Biogeography |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13465 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb.13465 |
| Keywords | functional diversity; functional island biogeography; habitat specialists; island size; isolation; plant functional traits; target effect |
| Description | Trait-based approaches are being used increasingly in island biogeography, providing key insights into the eco-evolutionary dynamics of insular systems. However, the determinants of persistence of plant species after they have arrived and established on an island remain largely unexplored. Here, we used three edaphic island systems (i.e., habitat patches distinguished from the landscape matrix by distinct soil conditions and specialized vegetation) to examine relationships between persistence strategies (those associated with clonality, bud bank, seed mass and life-form) and insularity. We hypothesized that insularity promotes and selects strategies to persist locally, such that species occurring on small and/or isolated edaphic islands show trait values indicative of enhanced persistence and lower functional diversity. |
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