New paper about trait plasticity and tree coexistence

New study was published in Journal of Ecology about how competition reshapes functional trait differences among tree species and how these changes can promote coexistence. The study was led by Jing Yang and Carlos Carmona, with Enrico Tordoni and our former postdoctoral researcher Jonathan A. Bennett also contributing as co-authors. In a three-year greenhouse experiment with 5,818 seedlings from seven coexisting tree species, the authors found that competition made species more similar in aboveground traits but more different in fine-root traits. Despite these contrasting responses, both shifts reduced competition intensity and helped explain how multiple tree species can coexist. The study builds on earlier work from our group on trait variation and competition, including Bennett et al. (2016) and Carmona et al. (2019).

Yang, J., Shen, G., Lyu, S., Bennett, J. A., Tordoni, E., Wu, S., Wang, X., & Carmona, C. P. 2026. Shifts in above- and below-ground trait dissimilarity under competition mediate the future impact of neighbours. Journal of Ecology 114: e70320.

Bennett, J. A., Riibak, K., Tamme, R., Lewis, R. J., & Pärtel, M. 2016. The reciprocal relationship between competition and intraspecific trait variation. Journal of Ecology 104: 1410–1420. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12614

Carmona, C. P., de Bello, F., Azcárate, F. M., Mason, N. W. H., & Peco, B. 2019. Trait hierarchies and intraspecific variability drive competitive interactions in Mediterranean annual plants. Journal of Ecology 107: 2078–2089. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13248