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Both selection and plasticity drive niche differentiation in experimental grasslands

Nature Plants volume 6, pages 28–33 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The way species avoid each other in a community by using resources differently across space and time is one of the main drivers of species coexistence in nature1,2. This mechanism, known as niche differentiation, has been widely examined theoretically but still lacks thorough experimental validation in plants. To shape niche differences over time, species within communities can reduce the overlap between their niches or find unexploited environmental space3. Selection and phenotypic plasticity have been advanced as two candidate processes driving niche differentiation4,5, but their respective role remains to be quantified6. Here, we tracked changes in plant height, as a candidate trait for light capture7, in 5-year multispecies sown grasslands. We found increasing among-species height differences over time. Phenotypic plasticity promotes this change, which explains the rapid setting of differentiation in our system. Through the inspection of changes in genetic structure, we also highlighted the contribution of selection. Altogether, we experimentally demonstrated the occurrence of species niche differentiation within artificial grassland communities over a short time scale through the joined action of both plasticity and selection.

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Fig. 1: Niche differentiation.
Fig. 2: Phenotypic and genotypic dynamics over the 5 years of experimentation.
Fig. 3: Species abundance.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available at https://data.inra.fr/privateurl.xhtml?token=8bcba8cf-56b6-4210-89d5-9beca09801b7.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank V. Beguier, head of research at the Jouffray Drillaud Company (Saint Sauvant, France), and his technical team for installation of the experiment, the URP3F technical team, and particularly D. Dénoue and B. Bonneau who provided important experimental assistance. The Agence Nationale de la Recherche in France (PRAISE; ANR-13-ADAP-0015) funded this work. The PhD salary of J.M. was supported by the Poitou-Charentes region and INRA (BAP division and MP EcoServ). V.M. and L.D. were supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC-Discovery-2016-05716).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. P3F UR 004, INRA, Le Chêne RD150, Lusignan, France

    Julien Meilhac & Isabelle Litrico

  2. Département des Sciences de l’Environnement, UQTR, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada

    Lucas Deschamps & Vincent Maire

  3. Jouffray-Drillaud La Litière, Saint Sauvant, France

    Sandrine Flajoulot

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Contributions

I.L. initiated the research question, obtained the funds and led the working group. I.L., J.M. and S.F. collected the data. J.M. and S.F. organized the dataset. All authors coordinated the analyses. J.M., I.L., V.M. and L.D. drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Isabelle Litrico.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Plants thanks Bernhard Schmid and the other, anonymous, reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–13 and Supplementary Notes.

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Supplementary Tables

Supplementary Tables 1–6.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Height data source.

Source Data Fig. 2

Data source of Height and cultivar frequencies.

Source Data Fig. 3

Biomass data source.

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Meilhac, J., Deschamps, L., Maire, V. et al. Both selection and plasticity drive niche differentiation in experimental grasslands. Nat. Plants 6, 28–33 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0569-7

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