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Interactions between Soil Habitat and Geographic Range Location Affect Plant Fitness

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  • John Stanton-Geddes
  • Ruth G Shaw
  • Peter Tiffin

Abstract

Populations are often found on different habitats at different geographic locations. This habitat shift may be due to biased dispersal, physiological tolerances or biotic interactions. To explore how fitness of the native plant Chamaecrista fasciculata depends on habitat within, at and beyond its range edge, we planted seeds from five populations in two soil substrates at these geographic locations. We found that with reduced competition, lifetime fitness was always greater or equivalent in one habitat type, loam soils, though early-season survival was greater on sand soils. At the range edge, natural populations are typically found on sand soil habitats, which are also less competitive environments. Early-season survival and fitness differed among source populations, and when transplanted beyond the range edge, range edge populations had greater fitness than interior populations. Our results indicate that even when the optimal soil substrate for a species does not change with geographic range location, the realized niche of a species may be restricted to sub-optimal habitats at the range edge because of the combined effects of differences in abiotic and biotic effects (e.g. competitors) between substrates.

Suggested Citation

  • John Stanton-Geddes & Ruth G Shaw & Peter Tiffin, 2012. "Interactions between Soil Habitat and Geographic Range Location Affect Plant Fitness," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-8, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0036015
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036015
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    Cited by:

    1. Tuomas Hämälä & Amanda J Gorton & David A Moeller & Peter Tiffin, 2020. "Pleiotropy facilitates local adaptation to distant optima in common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)," PLOS Genetics, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-23, March.

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