J Veg Sci. 2018;1–9. wileyonlinelibraryџcomjournaljvs
|
1
Journal of Vegetation Science
© 2018 International Association
for Vegetation Science
Received 8 August
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Accepted 6 January 8
DOI џjvsџ66
RESEARCH ARTICLE
The importance of facilitative interactions on the performance
of Colobanthus quitensis in an Antarctic tundra
Lohengrin A. Cavieres
1,2
| Mercedes Vivas
1,3
| Maritza A. K. Mihoc
1,2
|
Diana A. Osses
1,2
| José M. Ortiz-Gutiérrez
1,2
| Patricia L. Saéz
4
| León A. Bravo
3
1
Departamento de Botánica Facultad
de Ciencias Naturales y
Oceanográficas Universidad de Concepción
Concepción Chile
2
Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad IEB
Santiago Chile
3
Laboratorio de Fisiología y Biología
Molecular Vegetal Instituto de
Agroindustria Departamento de Ciencias
Agronómicas y Recursos Naturales Facultad
de Ciencias Agropecuarias y
Forestales Center of Plant Soil Interaction
and Natural Resources Biotechnology
Scientific and Technological Bioresource
Nucleus Universidad de La Frontera
Temuco Chile
4
Laboratorio Cultivo de
Tejidos Vegetales Centro de
Biotecnología Departamento de
Silvicultura Facultad de Ciencias
Forestales Universidad de Concepción
Concepción Chile
Correspondence
Lohengrin Aџ Cavieres Departamento de
Botánica Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y
Oceanográficas Universidad de Concepción
Concepción Chileџ
Email: lcaviere@udec.cl
Funding information
CONICYT GrantAward Number PIAART
Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity
IEB
Coordinating Editor Richard Michalet
Abstract
Aims The sign of interactions among plants in very harsh environments is under
debateџ The Antarctic tundra is one of the harshest environments on Earth and only
two vascular plants Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis have success
fully established natural populationsџ D. antarctica mostly establishes facilitative in
teractions with other species mosses but there is no information about the
interspecific interactions established by C. quitensisџ We assessed whether C. quiten-
sis grows frequently associated with D. antarctica and if D. antarctica neighbours
have a positive effect on the survival growth and photochemical efficiency of
C. quitensis individuals.
Location King George Island Antarctic Peninsulaџ
Methods To assess the spatial association among the two Antarctic vascular plants
fifty m cm quadrats were sampled on each of four different substrates moss
carpet areas dead moss carpet areas dominated by D. antarctica; a transition zone
between dead moss carpets and fellfields and fellfields characterized by very poor
vegetation coverџ Infrared thermal images were taken to estimate whether growth
associated with D. antarctica affected the foliar temperature of C. quitensisџ The im
portance of D. antarctica neighbours on the growth survival and photochemical ef
ficiency of C. quitensis was evaluated with a neighbour removal experimentџ
Results The number of C. quitensis individuals associated with D. antarctica was sig
nificantly higher than when growing alone in the moss carpet and the dead moss
carpet while in the transition zone there was a trend in that directionџ C. quitensis
individuals growing associated with D. antarctica were bigger than those growing
alone in these three substrate typesџ In the fellfield site there were no significant dif
ferences neither in the number nor the size of individuals when growing alone or
associated with D. antarctica. Foliar temperature of C. quitensis individuals associated
with D. antarctica was slightly џC but significantly higher than in those growing
aloneџ The growth survival and photochemical efficiency of C. quitensis individuals
with neighbours were higher than in individuals with neighbours removedџ
Conclusions Our results indicate that D. antarctica has a facilitative effect on the
growth survival and photochemical efficiency of C. quitensisџ Thus facilitative inter
actions are present and are important in one of the harshest environments on Earth
although results from the fellfield site indicate that further research is neededџ