Contrasting understorey species responses to the canopy and root effects of a dominant shrub drive community composition

摘要

Questions: Contrasting understorey species responses to the effects of dominant species might occur within a single community even with neutral community-level interactions. However, no studies have assessed the contribution of below-and above-ground effects for all species of a community and their consequences for community composition. We tested the following hypotheses: (i) there are contrasting responses of understorey species to the canopy and root effects of a dominant shrub; (ii) the contrasting understorey responses to the canopy and root effects of the shrub are related to community composition.