Interactions of local and regional processes: species richness in tussock sedge communities
2001
Lord, Leonard A. | Lee, Thomas D.
Grime's model of plant species richness was used as a basis for examining how local and regional processes interact in the regulation of the species richness of vascular plants growing on individual Carex stricta (tussock sedge) tussocks in New Hampshire, USA. We first used a correlational study of 71 tussocks in five marshes to examine the relationships between species richness and standing crop + leaf litter biomass. We found humped (unimodal) relationships with a wide variation in peak species richness per tussock among sites. Then, using a factorial design involving 167 tussocks in three marshes, we performed Carex stricta standing crop removals, leaf litter removals, and seed additions to examine how these factors interacted to influence species richness. The results of both studies supported Grime's model, which implies that the magnitude of local competitive effects on plant species richness is dependent on regional propagule availability.
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