Living the difference: alternative functional designs in five perennial herbs coexisting in a coastal dune environment

Abstract

Ecological theory suggests that in harsh environments major abiotic stress factors may act as environmental filters, thereby reducing the range of possible plant strategies through environmental trait selection. This would lead to functional similarity of species coexisting in hostile environments. To test this prediction, we evaluated six functional leaf traits at three different times of year in five species coexisting in a coastal dune ecosystem. The functional traits examined were associated with water status and light interception and use – two of the most limiting factors that lead to stress in dune systems. Species differed in traits associated with light absorption, namely chlorophyll content, the vigour index NDVI, and the proportion of the light absorbed that is used in photochemistry (as expressed by the effective and maximum quantum yield of PSII and the photochemical reflectance index). For most of the traits, the relative performance of species depended significantly on time. This research revealed a significant divergence in functional traits of coexisting species, which does not conform to findings in other harsh environments where species tend to functional convergence. The data provide experimental support for the hypothesis that there is no single combination of traits for a given environment, but that alternative functional designs of similar fitness may evolve in the same environment as a result of complex interactions and trade-offs among traits. This suggests that factors claimed to promote divergence, such as limiting similarity and disturbance processes, may play an important role in structuring the dune community under study. The high variability in functional traits suggests a significant degree of functional diversity and highlights the importance of preserving the species composition of threatened coastal dune habitats in order to preserve distinctive functional processes that may be unique to the systems.