Most of the research focuses on niche partitioning to find out coexistence mechanism but I am finding difficulties in measuring niche difference in secondary forests where there are lots of species.
Yes, you can use both. Niche partitioning is used to show how competing species use the environment differently in ways that helps them to coexist. Likewise, phenotypic differences (or functional traits) drive the stabilizing niche differences that promote coexistence.
See:
Plant functional traits and the multidimensional nature of species coexistence, PNAS, vol. 112 no. 3, Nathan J. B. Kraft, 797–802, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1413650112
I hope this helps :)
Thanks Andrew for your answer. I have already gone through the paper you suggested. In that paper, they find a relationship with phenotypic difference and niche & average fitness difference. Can you suggest me any method to determine niche and average fitness difference in a forest where dominant specie is found to coexists with lots of invaded species?
Species co-existence is an empirical phenomenon (species either do or do not co-exist), and can only be party explained in terms of trait space. This is because a) several mechanisms of species co-existence act by bypassing competitive exclusion (e.g., disturbance regimes), and b) even when competitive exclusion is taking place, it is not clear how much we can explain the result in terms of trait differences (probably only a limited amount). Plenty of species co-exist that appear to have little or no trait differentiation (grasses, or trees). Can you find trait differences? Sure, but only occasionally can you demonstrate that they promote co-existence.
Hi Abu. Yes, trait differences promote niche partitioning. But you cannot say traits are influenced by biotic or abiotic factors – that is evolutionary theory, which is tenuous and not really provable imo.
Yes, coexistence and relative fitness are related. See: Niche and fitness differences relate the maintenance of diversity to ecosystem function, Ecology, DOI: 10.1890/10-0302.1
I hope this helps :)
Thanks a lot, Prof. Young for your answer. I have not started the experiment yet. After finishing the experiment I can share the findings with you. My hypothesis is that competiting exclusion takes place due to the phenotypic difference among the species and co-existence takes place also due to the traits which promote niche partitioning.
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