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Peer-reviewedCC BYNature Communications

The dimensionality of plant–plant competition

  • Daniel B. Stouffer1,2,3
  • Óscar Godoy4,5
  • Giulio Valentino Dalla Riva6,7
  • Margaret M. Mayfield8,9,10
10 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Evolutionary and Integrative Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, Germany. [email protected]
  2. 2School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. [email protected]
  3. 3Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 840, New Zealand
  4. 4Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain
  5. 5Departamento de Biología, Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, 11510, Spain
  6. 6Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
  7. 7Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
  8. 8School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
  9. 9School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  10. 10School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 072, Australia
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Abstract

To avoid extinction, every species must be able to exploit available resources at least as well as all other species in its community. Theory predicts that, the more distinct the niches of competing species, the more species that can coexist together. However, both theoretical and experimental studies define a priori the nature and number of resources over which species presumably compete. It therefore remains unclear whether species in empirically realistic contexts actually fill all of the niches available to them. Here, we show how the interactions between co-occurring species can be used to quantify their implied "niche dimensionality": the effective number of axes over which those species show niche differentiation. We then apply this approach to data from 12 plant assemblages distributed across the globe. Contrary to expectation, we find that their niche dimensionality was much lower than the number of species. However, data from two high-resolution experiments show that changes to the local environment reshuffle plants' competitive roles and hence act to increase the assemblages' emergent niche dimensionality. Our results therefore reinforce the notion that homogeneous environments are less capable of maintaining high diversity while also highlighting how environmental variation shapes species' niches and hence moderates their long-term survival.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{stouffer2026dimensionality,
  title = {{The dimensionality of plant–plant competition}},
  author = {Daniel B. Stouffer and Óscar Godoy and Giulio Valentino Dalla Riva and Margaret M. Mayfield},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-76980-9},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-76980-9},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - The dimensionality of plant–plant competition
AU  - Daniel B. Stouffer
AU  - Óscar Godoy
AU  - Giulio Valentino Dalla Riva
AU  - Margaret M. Mayfield
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/26
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-76980-9
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-76980-9
AB  - To avoid extinction, every species must be able to exploit available resources at least as well as all other species in its community. Theory predicts that, the more distinct the niches of competing species, the more species that can coexist together. However, both theoretical and experimental studies define a priori the nature and number of resources over which species presumably compete. It therefore remains unclear whether species in empirically realistic contexts actually fill all of the niches available to them. Here, we show how the interactions between co-occurring species can be used to quantify their implied "niche dimensionality": the effective number of axes over which those species show niche differentiation. We then apply this approach to data from 12 plant assemblages distributed across the globe. Contrary to expectation, we find that their niche dimensionality was much lower than the number of species. However, data from two high-resolution experiments show that changes to the local environment reshuffle plants' competitive roles and hence act to increase the assemblages' emergent niche dimensionality. Our results therefore reinforce the notion that homogeneous environments are less capable of maintaining high diversity while also highlighting how environmental variation shapes species' niches and hence moderates their long-term survival.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -