@article{6e4573f349ba40b1a340ae3b316b9935,
title = "Vacant yet invasible niches in forest community assembly",
abstract = "It is controversial whether communities are saturated with species, or have vacant niches. The prevalence of vacant niches and the processes likely to promote their existence are poorly known. We used a process-based forest gap-model to simulate plant community dynamics in 11 sites along a climatic gradient across central Europe. We then used hypervolume analyses to study the existence of vacant niches (seen as empty volumes in the trait space of local species pools and communities), and we tested for the effect of abiotic (environmental filtering) and biotic (competition) processes on the functional hypervolumes along the climatic gradient. Last, we performed invasion simulations to assess the invasibility of detected vacant niches. Our results suggest that empty volumes in trait space are common, can arise from both abiotic and biotic processes and are more likely in cold climates. We also showed that most vacant niches are invasible. Synthesis. Our work supports the view that niche space is unsaturated, and that many viable ecological strategies are absent from these forest communities. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.",
keywords = "assembly mechanisms, forest, functional traits, hypervolume, non-equilibrium, saturation, trait space",
author = "Pierre Gauzere and Xavier Morin and Cyrille Violle and Ivanna Caspeta and Courtenay Ray and Benjamin Blonder",
note = "Funding Information: X.M. acknowledges support from the French National Research Agency project APPATS (ANR-15-CE02-0004) and the project DISTIMACC (ECOFOR-2014-23, French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, French Ministry of Agriculture and Forest). The development of the ForCEEPS model has strongly benefitted from the CAPSIS platform and the help of Fran{\c c}ois de Coligny. C.V. was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant Project {\textquoteleft}ecophysiological and biophysical constraints on domestication in crop plants{\textquoteright} (grant ERC-StG-2014-639706-CONSTRAINTS). IC's participation was supported by the Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities (WAESO) and the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Program (SOLUR). We warmly thank Mickael Chauvet for his help on simulation design and his knowledge of the model. [Correction added on 13 July 2020 after first online publication: Sentence added with funding information for IC]. Funding Information: X.M. acknowledges support from the French National Research Agency project APPATS (ANR‐15‐CE02‐0004) and the project DISTIMACC (ECOFOR‐2014‐23, French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, French Ministry of Agriculture and Forest). The development of the ForCEEPS model has strongly benefitted from the CAPSIS platform and the help of Fran{\c c}ois de Coligny. C.V. was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant Project {\textquoteleft}ecophysiological and biophysical constraints on domestication in crop plants{\textquoteright} (grant ERC‐StG‐2014‐639706‐CONSTRAINTS). We warmly thank Mickael Chauvet for his help on simulation design and his knowledge of the model. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 British Ecological Society",
year = "2020",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1111/1365-2435.13614",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "34",
pages = "1945--1955",
journal = "Functional Ecology",
issn = "0269-8463",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "9",
}