Genetic variation in plant morphology contributes to the species-level structure of grassland communities.

It is becoming apparent that genetic diversity can influence the species diversity and structure of ecological communities. Here, we investigated the intraspecific trait variation responsible for this relationship. We grew 10 genotypes of the sedge Carex caryophyllea, as monocultures, under standardized conditions and measured traits related to morphology, growth, and life history. The same genotypes had been prominent in determining the structure of multispecies experimental communities, equivalent in species diversity, in which the genetic diversity of the constituent plant species had been varied in parallel. The trait measurements revealed substantial phenotypic variation among Carex genotypes, related predominantly to differences in physical size and to the spatial deployment of above- and belowground tissue. Genotypes successful in experimental communities were larger in size and tended to adopt a "guerrilla" clonal growth strategy. In general, multivariate trait summaries of genotype size (and to a lesser extent, variation along a linear discriminant axis) predicted genotype and species abundance in experimental communities. However, one genotype exhibited a large disparity in this respect. The performance of this genotype lay closer to prediction when it was growing with a highly competitive grass genotype. The strength of the relationship between genotype size and performance within communities decreased with decreasing community genetic diversity. These results indicate that intraspecific trait measurements are useful for predicting and understanding community structure. They also imply that competitive interactions between the genotypes of different species play an increased role in determining phenotype in genetically impoverished communities.

Fine-scale community and genetic structure are tightly linked in species-rich grasslands.

Recent evidence indicates that grassland community structure and species diversity are influenced by genetic variation within species. We review what is known regarding the impact of intraspecific diversity on grassland community structure, using an ancient limestone pasture as a focal example. Two genotype-dependent effects appear to modify community structure in this system. First, the abundance of individual constituent species can depend upon the combined influence of direct genetic effects stemming from individuals within the population. Second, the outcome of localized interspecific interactions occurring within the community can depend on the genotypes of participating individuals (indicating indirect genetic effects). Only genotypic interactions are thought to be capable of allowing the long-term coexistence of both genotypes and species. We discuss the implications of these effects for the maintenance of diversity in grasslands. Next, we present new observations indicating that losses of genotypic diversity from each of two species can be predicted by the abundance of other coexisting species within experimental grassland communities. These results suggest genotype-specific responses to abundance in other coexisting species. We conclude that both direct and indirect genetic effects are likely to shape community structure and species coexistence in grasslands, implying tight linkage between fine-scale genetic and community structure.