Affiliation:
1. Department of Biological Sciences University of Notre Dame Notre Dame Indiana USA
2. School of Biological Sciences Washington State University Pullman Washington USA
3. Department of Natural and Applied Sciences University of Wisconsin‐Green Bay Green Bay Wisconsin USA
Abstract
AbstractIdentifying the drivers of community structure and dynamics is a major pursuit in ecology. Emphasis is typically placed on the importance of local scale interactions when attempting to explain these fundamental ecological patterns. However, regional scale phenomena are also important predictors. The importance of regional scale context should be more evident in assemblages where multiple species are close to their range margins. Here, we test the importance of regional scale context using data from a temperate forest plot that contains two species groups – one near its northern range limit and one near its southern range limit. We show the proximity of species to their southern or northern range margins is linked to local scale co‐occurrence, similarity in gene expression responses to a key environmental driver, demographic performance and inter‐specific variation in conspecific negative density dependence. In sum, many of the key local scale patterns and processes of interest to community ecologists are linked to biogeographic context that is frequently ignored.
Subject
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cited by
2 articles.
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