Niche-processes induced differences in plant growth, carbon balance, stress resistance, and regeneration affect community assembly over succession

The relationship between plant traits and species relative abundance along environmental gradients can provide important insights on the determinants of community structure. Here we bring extensive data on six key traits (specific leaf area (SLA), seed mass, seed germination rate, height, leaf proline content and photosynthesis rate) to test trait-abundance relationships in a successional chronosequence of subalpine meadow plant communities. Our results show that in late-successional meadows, abundant species had higher values for seed mass, seed germination rate, and SLA, but had lower values for height, photosynthesis rate, and leaf proline content than rarer species. The opposite patterns of trait-abundance relationships were observed for early-successional meadows. Observations of strong trait convergence and divergence in these successional communities lend greater support for niche processes compared to neutral community assembly. We conclude that species’ niches that determine plant growth (plant height and photosynthesis rate), carbon balance (SLA, photosynthesis rate), regeneration (seed mass and seed germination rate), and abiotic stress resistance (leaf proline content) under different environmental conditions have strong influence on species relative abundance in these sub-alpine meadow communities during succession.