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Phenotypic Plasticity and Species Coexistence.
Journal article

Phenotypic Plasticity and Species Coexistence.

  • Turcotte MM Center for Adaptation to a Changing Environment, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland. Electronic address: mart.turcotte@gmail.com.
  • Levine JM Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 16, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
  • 2016-08-17
Published in:
  • Trends in ecology & evolution. - 2016
character displacement
competitive asymmetry
intraspecific variation
niche shift
resource polymorphism.
Ecosystem
Phenotype
Species Specificity
English Ecologists are increasingly interested in predicting how intraspecific variation and changing trait values impact species interactions and community composition. For many traits, much of this variation is caused by phenotypic plasticity, and thus the impact of plasticity on species coexistence deserves robust quantification. Partly due to a lack of sound theoretical expectations, empirical studies make contradictory claims regarding plasticity effects on coexistence. Our critical review of this literature, framed in modern coexistence theory, reveals that plasticity affects species interactions in ways that could impact stabilizing niche differences and competitive asymmetries. However, almost no study integrates these measures to quantify the net effect of plasticity on species coexistence. To address this challenge, we outline novel empirical approaches grounded in modern theory.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/199620
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