TY - GEN A1 - Ulrich, Werner A1 - Piwczynski, Marcin A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Fischer, Anton T1 - Soil conditions and phylogenetic relatedness influence total community trait space during early plant succession T2 - Journal of Plant Ecology N2 - The total space of traits covered by the members of plant communities is an important parameter of ecosystem functioning and complexity. We trace the variability of trait space during early plant succession and ask how trait space co-varies with phylogenetic community structure and soil conditions. Particularly, we are interested in the small-scale variability in trait space and the influence of biotic and abiotic filters. We use data on species richness and soil conditions from the first 7 years of initial succession of an artificial catchment in north-eastern Germany. Total functional attribute diversity serves as a proxy to total trait space. Total trait space steadily increased during succession. We observed high small-scale variability in total trait space that was positively correlated with species richness and phylogenetic segregation and negatively correlated with total plant cover. Trait space increased with soil carbonate content, while pH and the fraction of sandy material behaved indifferently. Our results indicate that during early succession, habitat filtering processes gain importance leading to a lesser increase in trait space than expected from the increase in species richness alone. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtt048 VL - 7 IS - 4 SP - 321 EP - 329 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ulrich, Werner A1 - Piwczynski, Marcin A1 - Zaplata, Markus K. A1 - Winter, Susanne A1 - Schaaf, Wolfgang A1 - Fischer, Anton T1 - Small-scale spatial variability in phylogenetic community structure during early plant succession depends on soil properties T2 - Oecologia N2 - During early plant succession, the phylogenetic structure of a community changes in response to important environmental filters and emerging species interactions. We traced the development of temperate-zone plant communities during the first 7 years of primary succession on catchment soils to explore patterns of initial species assembly. We found pronounced small-scale differences in the phylogenetic composition of neighbouring plant assemblages and a large-scale trend towards phylogenetic evenness. This small-scale variability appears to be mediated by soil properties, particularly carbonate content. Therefore, abiotic environmental conditions might counteract or even supersede the effects of interspecific competition among closely related species, which are usually predicted to exhibit patterns of phylogenetic evenness. We conclude that theories on phylogenetic community composition need to incorporate effects of small-scale variability of environmental factors. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2954-2 VL - 175 IS - 3 SP - 985 EP - 995 ER -