Tolerance and suppression are distinct components of competition among plants, and recognizing how they affect competitive outcomes is important for understanding the mechanisms and consequences of competition. We used simulations informed by experimental trials to ask whether tolerance or suppression of competitors was more important for the survival of native plants experiencing competition with an exotic invasive species. When competition was pairwise, tolerance and suppression contributed equally to competitive rank in simulations. However, when multiple native genotypes competed together against an invader, the ability to tolerate competition was up to 50 times more important than the ability to suppress the invader. In two‐competitor communities the chief advantage of suppressing competitors was a global decrease in their abundance, but this advantage did not exist in communities of multiple competitors – which is more representative of natural conditions – because decreased competitor abundance benefited all plants regardless of their competitive ability. We suggest that this concept is analogous to a ‘demolition derby,' an automotive contest where participants attempt to have the last functional vehicle on the playing field. Because strong suppressors share the benefits of eliminating competitors with other remaining competitors, we propose that tolerance of competitors is more beneficial than suppression when competition occurs in a multiplayer scenario – in a demolition derby and in nature. This finding has implications for our understanding of how competition influences plant species coexistence, plant community structure and invasion outcomes.

中文翻译：

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竞争作为拆除德比：为什么容忍竞争对手比压制竞争对手更重要

耐受和抑制是植物间竞争的独特组成部分，认识到它们如何影响竞争结果对于理解竞争的机制和后果很重要。我们使用实验性试验提供的模拟来询问，对竞争者的耐受性或抑制力对于经历与外来入侵物种竞争的本土植物的生存是否更为重要。当成对竞争时，容忍度和抑制度在模拟中对竞争排名的贡献同等。但是，当多种天然基因型共同对抗入侵者时，耐受竞争的能力比抑制入侵者的能力重要多达50倍。在有两个竞争者的社区中，压制竞争者的主要好处是，全球竞争者的人数减少了，但是这种优势在多个竞争者的社区中并不存在，而竞争者的存在更能代表自然条件，因为无论竞争对手的竞争能力如何，竞争者数量的减少都会使所有植物受益。我们建议该概念类似于“拆卸德比”，这是一场汽车比赛，参赛者试图在运动场上拥有最后一辆实用的汽车。由于强大的压制者与其他剩余的竞争者共享消除对手的好处，因此我们建议，在多人游戏场景中（在拆除德比中和自然界中）发生竞争时，容忍竞争者比压制更有益。这一发现对我们理解竞争如何影响植物物种共存，植物群落结构和入侵结果具有重要意义。