Abstract
Annual plants are common in disturbed habitats. It is frequently assumed that because these habitats often have low-plant density, competition is not important in shaping the ecological strategies of annual plants. We test for competitive strategies in genotypes of the short-lived annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Genotypes were grown in treatments with or without conspecific competitors. We measured size at reproduction and fitness (fruit production) at final development. We estimated competitive ability in each genotype at first reproduction (the ability to maintain size in the presence of competitors) and at final development (the ability to maintain fruit production in the presence of competitors). Genotypes showed relatively high competitive ability measured as fruit production at final development, but most genotypes had low competitive ability measured as size at reproduction. Our results suggest that competition has been important in the evolution of strategies in these genotypes but vegetative size is not a strong predictor of competitive ability. Rather, competitive ability is determined by the capacity to reproduce efficiently in the presence of competitors. The competitive strategies expressed across these genotypes suggest that competition has been a selective force in these plants, and that a fast life history is not equivalent to an “r-strategy.”
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aarssen LW, Schamp BS, Pither J (2006) Why are there so many small plants? Implications for species coexistence. J Ecol 94:569–580
Anderson MJ (2001) A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecol 26:32–46
Andrieu E, Debussche M, Thompson JD (2007) Size-dependent reproduction and gender modification in the hermaphroditic perennial plant Paeonia officinalis. Int J Plant Sci 168:435–441
Bell G (1976) On breeding more than once. Am Nat 100:57–77
Bonser SP, Aarssen LW (1996) Meristem allocation: a new classification theory for adaptive strategies in herbaceous plants. Oikos 77:347–352
Bonser SP, Aarssen LW (2009) Interpreting reproductive allometry: individual strategies of allocation explain size-dependent reproduction in plant populations. Perspect Plant Ecol Evol Syst 11:31–40
Bonser SP, Geber MA (2005) Growth form evolution and shifting habitat specialization in annual plants. J Evol Biol 18:1009–1018
Bonser SP, Ladd B, Monro K, Hall MD, Forster MA (2010) The adaptive value of functional and life history traits across fertility treatments in an annual plant. Ann Bot 106:979–988
Callahan HS, Pigliucci M (2002) Shade-induced plasticity and its ecological significance in wild populations of Arabidopsis thaliana. Ecology 83:1965–1980
Charlesworth B (1994) Evolution in age-structured populations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Charnov EL (1993) Life history invariants. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
Charnov EL, Schaffer WM (1973) Life history consequences of natural selection: Cole’s result revisited. Am Nat 107:791–793
Coomes DA, Rees M, Turnbull L, Ratcliffe S (2002) On the mechanisms of coexistence among annual plant species, using neighbourhood techniques and simulation modes. Plant Ecol 163:23–38
Earley EJ, Ingland B, Winkler J, Tonsor SJ (2009) Inflorescences contribute more than rosettes to lifetime carbon gain in Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae). Am J Bot 96:786–792
Goldberg DE, Turkington R, Olsvig-Whittaker L, Dyer AR (2001) Density dependence in an annual plant community: variation among life history stages. Ecol Monogr 71:423–446
Grime JP (1979) Plant strategies and vegetative processes. John Wiley & Sons, UK
Grime JP, Thompson K, Hunt R, Hodgson JG, Cornelissen JHC, Rorison IH, Hendry GAF, Ashenden TW, Askew AP, Band SR, Booth RE, Bossard CC, Campbell BD, Cooper JEL, Davison AW, Gupta PL, Hall W, Hand DW, Hannah MA, Hillier SH, Hodkinson DJ, Jalili A, Liu Z, Mackey JML, Matthews N, Mowforth MA, Neal AM, Reader RJ, Reiling K, Ross-Fraser W, Spencer RE, Sutton F, Tasker DE, Thorpe PC, Whitehouse J (1997) Integrated screening validates primary axes of specialisation in plants. Oikos 79:259–281
Gurevitch J, Scheiner SM, Fox GA (2002) The ecology of plants. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA
Kays S, Harper JL (1974) The regulation of plant and tiller density in a grass sward. J Ecol 62:97–105
Ladd B, Facelli JM (2008) Priority effects produced by plant litter result in non-additive competitive effects. Oecologia 157:687–696
Lessin LM, Dyer AR, Goldberg DE (2001) Using upper boundary constraints to quantify competitive response of desert annuals. Oikos 92:153–159
Levin JM, Rees M (2002) Coexistence and relative abundance in annual plant assemblages: the roles of competition and colonization. Am Nat 160:452–467
MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ
Neytcheva NS, Aarssen LW (2008) More plant biomass results in more offspring production in annuals, or does it? Oikos 117:1298–1307
Oksanen L, Sammul M, Mägi M (2006) On the indices of plant–plant competition and their pitfalls. Oikos 112:149–155
Pianka ER (1970) On r- and K-Selection. Am Nat 104:592–597
Quinn G, Keough M (2003) Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK
Rose KE, Atkinson RL, Turnbull LA, Rees M (2009) The costs and benefits of fast living. Ecol Lett 12:1379–1384
Schiffers K, Tielbörger K (2006) Ontogenetic shifts in interactions among annual plants. J Ecol 94:336–341
Schmitt J, Stinchcombe JR, Heschel MS, Huber H (2003) The adaptive evolution of plasticity: phytochrome-mediated shade avoidance responses. Integr Comp Biol 43:459–469
Stearns SC (1992) The evolution of life histories. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
Taylor DR, Aarssen LW, Loehle C (1990) On the relationship between r/K selection and environmental carrying capacity: a new habitat templet for plant life history strategies. Oikos 58:239–250
Turnbull LA, Rees M, Crawley MJ (1999) Seed mass and the competition/colonization tradeoff: a sowing experiment. J Ecol 87:899–921
Turnbull LA, Coomes D, Hector A, Rees M (2004) Seed mass and the competition/colonization tradeoff: competitive interactions and special patterns in a guild of annual plants. J Ecol 92:97–109
Vermuelen PJ, Steufer JF, Anten NPR, During HJ (2009) Carbon gain in the competition for light between genotypes of the clonal herb Potentilla reptans. J Ecol 97:508–517
Violle C, Richarte J, Navas ML (2006) Effects of litter and standing biomass on growth and reproduction of two annual species in a Mediterranean old-field. J Ecol 94:196–205
Weinig C, Johnston JA, Willis CG, Maloof JN (2007) Antagonistic multilevel selection on size and architecture in variable density settings. Evolution 61:58–67
Acknowledgments
We thank K. Monro for help with the data collection. An anonymous reviewer provided helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. This research was supported by a UNSW Vice Chancellor’s Research and Teaching Fellowship, a Faculty Research Grant and an Early Career Researcher Grant to Stephen P. Bonser.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bonser, S.P., Ladd, B. The evolution of competitive strategies in annual plants. Plant Ecol 212, 1441–1449 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-011-9919-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-011-9919-x