Coping with harsh habitats and with hostile neighbors – plant interactions, functional traits and spatial structure in the service of hyperarid plant communities

What are the strategies that species use to cope with neighbors in the face of harsh conditions?

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What are the mechanisms that drive species coexistence under environmental stress?

Can plant dynamics be derived from the community spatial pattern?

It is a well-accepted that an organism cannot be highly successful in all aspects of its life. Instead, it is assumed that tradeoffs exist in the ability of organisms to respond to different challenges encountered. Often, we assume that a tradeoff between traits accounts for the survival of the species, so that species that perform better under environmental stress are weaker competitors, while species that can outperform neighbors in benign conditions suffer more from the stress. However, often species cannot be easily classified as “better” or “worse” than others in relation to their responses, because they utilize different strategies. Trait-based approaches can bridge the gap between specific phenotypic characteristics, species responses to particular habitats, population dynamics, and community dynamics, including species interactions. Because the mechanisms governing trait characteristics may change with scale, it is essential to study these responses in relation to species’ spatial distribution.

The annual plant Anastatica hierochuntica (Brassicaceae), serves as an excellent model species for our studies, because it is distributed along a broad range of dry ecosystems and exhibits tolerance to heat and high salinity. It is also well-known for its unique seed dormitory mechanisms, which leaves the mother plants in the habitats for many years, making it an ideal model for spatial analysis.

Here, we employ extensive field observations, large scale net-house and growth-room experiments and modelling techniques to link between intra- and inter-specific variation in plant performances and adaptations to arid habitats.