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Seed dispersal mechanisms modulate Janzen-Connell effects in Mediterranean forests through antagonists and mutualists.
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  • Antonio Jesús Perea,
  • Thorsten Wiegand,
  • Jesús Bastida,
  • Mariona Pajares-Murgó,
  • Domingo Cano,
  • Álvaro López-García,
  • Lise Pomarede,
  • Jorge Prieto-Rubio,
  • Pedro Rey,
  • Jose Luis Garrido,
  • Julio Alcantara
Antonio Jesús Perea
Universidad de Jaén

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Thorsten Wiegand
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
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Jesús Bastida
Estacion Experimental del Zaidin
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Mariona Pajares-Murgó
University of Jaén
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Domingo Cano
University of Jaen Faculty of Experimental Sciences
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Álvaro López-García
University of Jaen Faculty of Experimental Sciences
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Lise Pomarede
University of Jaen Faculty of Experimental Sciences
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Jorge Prieto-Rubio
Estación Experimental del Zaidín
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Pedro Rey
University of Jaen
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Jose Luis Garrido
Estacion Experimental del Zaidin
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Julio Alcantara
Universidad de Jaen
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Abstract

The Janzen-Connell hypothesis is one of the most important hypotheses in ecology, but is mostly tested indirectly without accounting for the underlying plant-associated organisms, or only for highly host-specific organisms. Advances in massive sequencing allow to sample, for example, the fungi communities associated with different plant species, and spatial analysis can reveal spatial patterns in the number of organisms (species) shared by plant species and their neighbours. We show how combining these tools provides new perspectives for testing the Janzen Connell hypothesis. We illustrate our approach using a natural experiment in two fully-mapped Mediterranean forest plots, where the dominant dry- and fleshy-fruited species have distinctly different seed deposition patterns, leading to contrasting expectation about the emerging spatial structures. Our analysis confirmed these expectations and provided deep insights into how the neighbourhood load of plant-associated fungi and herbivorous insects changes during plant ontogeny and how seed dispersal mechanisms modulates Janzen-Connell effects.
23 Oct 2023Submitted to Ecology Letters
24 Oct 2023Submission Checks Completed
24 Oct 2023Assigned to Editor
24 Oct 2023Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
25 Oct 2023Reviewer(s) Assigned