Tuesday, August 3, 2010: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
301-302, David L Lawrence Convention Center
OOS 15 - Toward a Traits-Based Understanding of Coexistence Under Competition for Light in Forest Communities: Combining Demography and Functional Ecology
Understanding how woody plant species coexist in forest communities remains a particularly important and elusive challenge. Forests play a large role in the global carbon balance. However, they are difficult to work with empirically due to the long time scales of the relevant biological processes. Furthermore, with so few limiting resources to partition it seems counter-intuitive to find such a range of species diversity, and particularly, the high species diversity observed in tropical forests. A plethora of hypotheses have been posited to attempt to explain species coexistence in these systems. One important hypothesis is that many species can coexist under competition for light through life history differences enabling them to specialize on different light environments. There is much evidence for life history variation that qualitatively seems likely to lead to partitioning of the light environment. There is also evidence for at least some differentiation in functional traits thought to be related to life history strategy and light usage. However, a rigorous understanding of how species partition the light environment in forests and what kind of functional trait diversity is required to do so is still lacking. A traits-based understanding is desirable because it can provide a more tangible, physical picture that may lead to insight into structural similarities across communities, and that is critical for scaling from community dynamics to ecosystem properties. What is needed to rectify this situation is the development and testing of mechanistic theory of competition for light. The theory should capture key details of how demographic performance is influenced by the presence of competitors, and tie this competition-sensitivity of demographic performance all the way to the functional traits that determine it. This OOS will bring together researchers making important progress on the ingredients needed to develop and test this synthetic theory. Specifically, it will bring together: 1) theorists developing “demographic” models of forest dynamics, which describe the competition process in terms of birth, death, and growth rates and their dependence on the light environment, 2) functional ecologists using physiological principles and correlational studies to establish the relationship between plant functional traits and demographic performance in different environments, and 3) community ecologists elucidating the key axes of trait variation and patterns of trait diversity in forest communities. The aim of the OOS is to take a step towards achieving a synthetic traits-based understanding of coexistence under competition for light and its role in diversity maintenance in forests.
Organizer:	Annette M. Ostling, University of Michigan
Co-organizer:	Jeffrey K. Lake, University of Michigan
Moderator:	Deborah Goldberg, University of Michigan
1:30 PM	OOS 15-1		Stabilizing and equalizing mechanisms of coexistence in a model of competition for light in forests Annette M. Ostling, University of Michigan, Gyorgy Barabas, University of Michigan, Jeffrey K. Lake, University of Michigan
1:50 PM	OOS 15-2		Do trait trade-offs drive coexistence through their effects on demography of temperate forest trees? Jeffrey K. Lake, University of Michigan, Annette M. Ostling, University of Michigan, David N. Allen, University of Michigan, Gyorgy Barabas, University of Michigan, Carlin Ziska, University of Michigan, Zachary T. Brym, University of Michigan, Andrea Maguire, Michigan State University, Daniel Cummins, University of Michigan
2:10 PM	OOS 15-3		The architectural-demographic explanation of tree community organization Takashi Kohyama, Hokkaido University
2:30 PM	OOS 15-4		Traits, rates and strategies: Modelling diverse forests Drew Purves, Microsoft Reserach, Cambridge
2:50 PM	OOS 15-5		Temperate tree species show strong but varying size-dependent allometric patterns of canopy openness, crown depth, and leaf optics Sean C. Thomas, University of Toronto
3:10 PM			Break
3:20 PM	OOS 15-6		Modeling plant performance and community structure from traits using first principles Brian J. Enquist, University of Arizona and The Santa Fe Institute, Scott C. Stark, University of Arizona
3:40 PM	OOS 15-7		The importance of functional trait variability for tree growth and mortality: Implications for forest dynamics Kiona Ogle, University of Wyoming, Sharmila Pathikonda, University of Wyoming
4:00 PM	OOS 15-8		Transpirational tug-o-war: Modeling vascular constraints to photosynthesis in patchy light and limited water supply Alexandra M. Thorn, Tufts University, Colin M. Orians, Tufts University
4:20 PM	OOS 15-9		Community assembly = trait-based natural selection + drift Bill Shipley, University of Sherbrooke
4:40 PM	OOS 15-10		Trait-based community assembly: A strong test of the maximum entropy model Daniel C. Laughlin, Northern Arizona University, Bill Shipley, University of Sherbrooke, Grégory Sonnier, University of Sherbrooke, Rafael Otfinowski, University of Sherbrooke

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