Opposing effects of floral visitors and soil conditions on the determinants of competitive outcomes maintain species diversity in heterogeneous landscapes

Abstract

Theory argues that both soil conditions and aboveground trophic interactions are equally important for determining plant species diversity. However, it remains unexplored how they modify the niche differences that stabilise species coexistence and the average fitness differences driving competitive dominance. We conducted a field study in Mediterranean annual grasslands to parameterise population models of six competing plant species. Spatially explicit floral visitor assemblages and soil salinity variation were characterized for each species. Both floral visitors and soil salinity modified species population dynamics via direct changes in seed production and indirect changes in competitive responses. Although the magnitude and sign of these changes were species specific, floral visitors promoted coexistence at neighbourhood scales while soil salinity did so over larger scales by changing the superior competitor's identity. Our results show how below and aboveground interactions maintain diversity in heterogeneous landscapes through their opposing effects on the determinants of competitive outcomes.