KinsellaMap

Plant species coordinates from a quadrat in a rough fescue short grass prairie located at the Roy Berg Kinsella Research Ranch, in Kinsella, Alberta, Canada (53°50’ N, 111°33’ W). The site is in the Aspen Parkland ecoregion and is comprised of a mosaic of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) stands and short-grass prairie. The plant community is dominated by C3 grasses including Festuca hallii, Hesperostipa curtiseta and Poa pratensis and includes more than 40 forb species of varying abundance. The site was historically winter-grazed by bison, and had been last grazed by cattle five years prior to sampling. In the summer of 2005, a single haphazardly placed 3 x 3 metre plot was divided into 36 0.5 x 0.5 m grid cells. Every live stem was identified to species and mapped to the nearest centimetre providing a detailed map of the distribution of 1889 stems from 29 species. Variables PX and PY record the coordinates. Variable species is a species code drawn from the genus and species names of the vascular plants present

Summary of ahistorical and phylogenetically independent contrast (PIC) correlations among A) within-community (α), B) among-community (β) and C) total () components of trait variation for 76 plant species (68 contrasts) in Alberta grasslands.

<p>Cell contents are correlation coefficients. Below-diagonal values are ahistorical correlations, above-diagonal values are PIC correlations. Bold cells indicate correlations with <i>P</i>-value<0.05.</p

C–P relationship predicted for each major theory and the Goldberg meta-analysis.

<p><b>Note:</b> Predictions are based on Grime <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Grime2" target="_blank">[10]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Grime3" target="_blank">[11]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Grime4" target="_blank">[12]</a>, Bertness and Callaway <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Bertness1" target="_blank">[37]</a>, Maestre <i>et al.</i><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Maestre3" target="_blank">[40]</a>, Newman <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Newman1" target="_blank">[13]</a>, Tilman <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Tilman1" target="_blank">[3]</a>, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Tilman2" target="_blank">[14]</a>, Goldberg <i>et al.</i><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Goldberg1" target="_blank">[1]</a>, and Davis et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#pone.0043703-Davis1" target="_blank">[5]</a>. Cells containing a + mean that we expect increasing competition along the gradient, cells with a 0 mean that we expect a non-significant relationship, and cells with a − mean we expect a negative relationship. If a cell is left blank, then that particular metric or gradient does not apply to that theory. The column labelled this study refers to our findings and will be explained further in the <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#s3" target="_blank">results</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0043703#s4" target="_blank">discussion</a>.</p

Phylogenetic signal in within-community (α), among-community (β) and total () components of trait variation for 76 plant species in Alberta grasslands.

<p>Total variance explained indicates the variation in species mean trait values () explained by each component.</p

A list of species used within the experiment by growth form and family.

<p><b>Note:</b> Growth forms were based upon observed morphologies under competition and determined following Cornelissen <i>et al.</i> (2003). Frequency of occurrence was determined by a 2009 survey of 100 2×2 m plots spread across the field site. Values of <1 denote plants that are known to occur at the field site, but were not observed within the plots.</p

Changes in competitive intensity and importance with productivity.

<p>Competitive intensity (A) and relative competitive importance (C) decline as a function of standing crop for survival. Similarly, competitive intensity (B) and importance (D) decline for plant growth with gross water supply. Horizontal solid lines denote zero on the y-axis. Values above this line are competitive and below this line are facilitative. Dashed lines represent best fit lines. Each panel has a different scale for the y axis and that x axes are the same for A and C and for B and D.</p

Results of a non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination for 27 communities in mixedgrass and fescue grasslands in Alberta.

<p>Solid symbols indicate the site and habitat type of individual communities (green = fescue site, blue = mixedgrass sites). Cross symbols indicate species scores; names of selected species are indicated in gray. The first axis of this ordination was used as a measure of the habitat affinity of species.</p

Biomass regression coefficient estimates and significance tests.

<p><b>Note:</b> For each species, if a particular regression coefficient was removed from the regression model by backward step-wise regression, then it is left blank in the table below. For <i>Bouteloua gracilis</i>, ln(flowers) was not included in the regression model as it caused underestimation of biomass for plants without flowers.</p

Correlations between phylogenetically independent contrasts of total (), within-community (α), and among-community (β) components of trait variation for specific leaf area (SLA; cm²/g) versus specific root length (SRL; m/g).

<p>Dashed lines indicate estimated evolutionary correlation through the origin.</p