Abstract
In this chapter, the interactions between plants, plant communities and the abiotic and biotic environment are described. First, we discuss how plants with their specific traits influence their environment, including their effects on climatic conditions, on the weathering of bedrock and on topography, as well as on the development and characteristics of soils. The second section deals with interactions among plants, including positive, neutral and negative ones, which can result in symbiosis, facilitation, commensalism, parasitism or competition. A special focus lies on competition and its consequences for coexistence among different plant species and for plant community structure and diversity. This section ends by highlighting the relevance of plant–plant interactions for practical applications, such as the use of indicator values and ecograms, which are based on the ecological niche concept. The third section describes interactions between plants and animals. We first classify plant–animal interactions by looking at the evolutionary effects of such interactions on both groups and present the evolutionary history of biological interactions and the concepts of coevolution and adaptation. The following sections elaborate in detail on specific plant–animal interactions, namely herbivory, carnivory, pollination, seed dispersal and mycorrhiza. The chapter ends with a description of the effects of abiotic environmental conditions on these biological interactions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aarssen LW (1989) Competitive ability and species coexistence: a “plant’s-eye” view. Oikos 3:386–401
Adler LS (2000) The ecological significance of toxic nectar. Oikos 91:409–420
Agosta SJ, Klemens JA (2008) Ecological fitting by phenotypically flexible genotypes: implications for species associations, community assembly and evolution. Ecol Lett 11:1123–1134
Antor RJ, García MB (1995) A new mite-plant association: mites living amidst the adhesive traps of carnivorous plants. Oecologia 101:51–54
Archetti M (2000) The origin of autumn colours by coevolution. J Theor Biol 205:625–630
Ballaré CL, Scope AL, Stapleton AE, Yanovsky MJ (1996) Solar ultraviolet-B radiation affects seedling emergence, DNA integrity, plant morphology, growth rate, and attractiveness to herbivore insects in Datura ferox. Plant Physiol 112:161–170
Belnap J, Lange OL (eds) (2001) Biological soil crusts. Structure, function and management, Ecological studies, vol 150. Springer, Berlin
Bergström G, Dobson HEM, Groth I (1995) Spatial fragrance patterns within the flowers of Ranunculus acris (Ranunculaceae). Plant Syst Evol 195:221–242
Bertin RI (1989) Pollination biology. In: Abrahamson WG (ed) Plant-animal interactions. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp 23–83
Bertness MD, Callaway RM (1994) Positive interactions in communities. Trends Ecol Evol 9(5):191–193
Brandenburg A, Kuhlemeier C, Bshary R (2012) Hawkmoth pollinators decrease seed set of a low-nectar Petunia axillaris line through reduced probing time. Curr Biol 22:1635–1639
Brooker RW, Maestre FT, Callaway RM, Lortie CL, Cavieres LA, Kunstler G, Liancourt P, Tielbörger K, Travis JMJ, Anthelme F, Armas C, Coll L, Corcket E, Delzon S, Forey E, Kikvidze Z, Olofsson J, Pugnaire F, Quiroz CL, Saccone P, Schiffers K, Seifan M, Touzard B, Michalet R (2008) Facilitation in plant communities: the past, the present, and the future. J Ecol 96:18–34
Campbell DR, Aldridge G (2006) Floral biology and hybrid zones. In: Harder LD, Barrett SCH (eds) Ecology and evolution of flowers. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 326–345
Case TJ (2000) An illustrated guide to theoretical ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Cazetta E, Schaefer HM, Galetti M (2008) Does attraction to frugivores or defense against pathogens shape fruit pulp composition? Oecologia 155:277–286
Chesson P (2000) Mechanisms of maintenance of species diversity. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 31:343–366
Chesson P, Kuang JJ (2008) The interaction between predation and competition. Nature 456:235–238
Chittka L, Schürkens S (2001) Successful invason of a floral market. Nature 411:653
Cipollini ML, Levey DJ (1997) Why are some fruits toxic? Glycoalkaloids in Solanum and fruit choice by vertebrates. Ecology 78:782–798
Connell JH (1971) On the role of natural enemies in preventing exclusion in some marine animals and in rain forest trees. In: den Boer PJ, Gradwell GR (eds) Dynamics of populations. Centre for Agricultual Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, pp 298–310
Connell JH (1980) Diversity and the coevolution of competitors, or the ghost of competition past. Oikos 35:131–138
Connell JH, Slatyer RO (1977) Mechanisms of succession in natural communities and their role in community stability and organisation. Am Nat 111:1119–1144
Cooney LJ, Schaefer HM, Logan BA, Cox B, Gould KS (2015) Functional significance of anthocyanins in peduncles of Sambucus nigra. Environ Exp Bot 119:18–26
Cooney LJ, van Klink JW, Hughes NM, Perry NB, Schaefer HM, Menzies IJ, Gould KS (2012) Red leaf margins indicate increased polygodial content and function as visual signals to reduce herbivory in Pseudowinteria colorata. New Phytol 194:488–497
Cousens R, Wiegand T, Taghizadeh M (2008) Small-scale spatial structure within patterns of seed dispersal. Oecologia 158:437–448
Danin A (1986) Patterns of biogenic weathering as indicators of palaeoclimates in Israel. Proc R Soc Edinb Sect B (Biol) 89b:243–253
Darwin CR (1859) The origin of species by means of natural selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. J. Murray, London
Dufrêne M, Legendre P (1997) Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetrical approach. Ecol Monogr 67:345–366
Dybzinski R, Fargione JF, Zak DR, Fornara D, Tilman D (2008) Soil fertility increases with plant species diversity in a long-term biodiversity experiment. Oecologia 158:85–93
Ellenberg H (1953) Physiologisches und ökologisches Verhalten derselben Pflanzenarten. Bericht der Dtsch Bot Gesellschaft 65:351–361
Ellenberg H, Leuschner C (2010) Vegetation Mitteleuropas mit den Alpen: In ökologischer, dynamischer und historischer Sicht, 6th edn. UTB, Stuttgart
Ellenberg H, Weber HE, Düll R, Wirth V, Werner W, Paulißen D (1992) Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa, 2. Aufl. Ser Geobot 18:1–258
Eltz T, Zimmermann Y, Pfeiffer C, Pech JR, Twele R, Francke W, Quezada-Euan JJ, Lunau K (2008) An olfactory shift is associated with male perfume differentiation and species divergence in orchid bees. Curr Biol 18:1844–1848
Ertsen A, Alkemade J, Wassen M (1998) Calibrating Ellenberg indicator values for moisture, acidity, nutrient availability and salinity in the Netherlands. Plant Ecol 135:113–124
Fellbaum CR, Gachomo EW, Beesetty Y, Choudhari S, Strahan GD, Pfeffer PE, Kiers ET, Bücking H (2012) Carbon availability triggers fungal nitrogen uptake and transport in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences 109:2666–2671
Firbank LG, Watkinson AR (1985) On the analysis of competition within two-species mixtures of plants. J Appl Ecol 22:503–517
Fornara DA, Tilman D (2008) Plant functional composition in fluencies rates of soil carbon and nitrogen accumulation. J Ecol 96:314–322
Galen C, Cuba J (2001) Down the tube: pollinators, predators, and the evolution of flower shape in the alpine skypilot, Polemonium viscosum. Evolution 55:1963–1971
Gaudet CL, Keddy PA (1988) A comparative approach to predicting competitive ability from plant traits. Nature 334:242–243
Gianoli E, Carrasco-Urra F (2014) Leaf mimicry in a climbing plant protects against herbivory. Curr Biol 24:R357–R359
Grime JP (1977) Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance for ecological and evolutionary theory. Am Nat 111:1169–1194
Grime JP (2001) Plant strategies and vegetation processes, 2nd edn. John Wiley, Chichester
Grubb PJ (1977) The maintenance of species richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration niche. Biol Rev 52:107–145
Gurevitch J, Morrow LL, Wallace A, Walsh JS (1992) A meta-analysis of competition in field experiments. Am Nat 140:539–572
Hagen SB, Folstad I, Jakobsen SW (2003) Autumn colouration and herbivore resistance in mountain birch (Betula pubescens). Ecol Lett 6:807–811
Halsey RW (2004) In search of allelopathy: an eco-historical view of the investigation of chemical inhibition in California coastal sage scrub and chamise chaparral. J Torrey Bot Soc 131:343–367
Hamilton WD, Brown SP (2001) Autumn tree colours as a handicap signal. Proc R Soc Lond B 268:1489–1493
Hardesty BD, Hubbell SP, Bermingham E (2006) Genetic evidence of frequent long-distance recruitment in a vertebrate-dispersed tree. Ecol Lett 9:516–525
Hector A, von Felten S, Hautier Y, Weilenmann M, Bruelheide H (2012) Effects of dominance and diversity on productivity along Ellenberg’s experimental water table gradients. PLoS One 7:e43358
Heil M, Karban R (2010) Explaining evolution of plant communication by airborne signals. Trends Ecol Evol 25:137–144
Himanen SJ, Blande JD, Klemola T, Pulkkinen J, Heijari J, Holopainen JK (2010) Birch (Betula spp.) leaves adsorb and re-release volatiles specific to neighbouring plants—a mechanism for associational herbivore resistance? New Phytol 186:722–732
Hubbell SP (2001) The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Huisman J, Weissing FJ (1995) Competition for nutrients and light in a mixed water column: a theoretical analysis. Am Nat 146:536–564
Huisman J, Weissing FJ (1999) Biodiversity of plankton by species oscillations and chaos. Nature 402:407–410
Hutchinson GE (1957) Concluding remarks. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 22:415–427
Jansen PA, Hirsch BT, Emsens W-J, Zamora-Gutierrez V, Wikelski M, Kays R (2012) Thieving rodents as substitute dispersers of megafaunal seeds. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109:12610–12615
Janzen DH (1970) Herbivores and number of tree species in tropical forests. Am Nat 104:501–528
Janzen DH (1985) On ecological fitting. Oikos 45:308–310
Jersáková J, Johnson SD, Kindlmann P (2006) Mechanisms and evolution of deceptive pollination in orchids. Biol Rev 81:219–235
Jordano P, García C, Godoy JA, García-Castaño JL (2007) Differential contribution of frugivores to complex seed dispersal patterns. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences 104:3278–3282
Karban R, Baldwin IT, Baxter KJ, Laue G, Felton GW (2000) Communication between plants: induced resistance in wild tobacco plants following clipping of neighboring sagebrush. Oecologia 125:66–71
Katzenberger TD, Lunau K, Junker RR (2013) Salience of multimodal flower cues manipulates initial responses and facilitates learning performance of bumblebees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 67:1587–1599
Keddy PA (1989) Competition. Chapman & Hall, London
Kessler A, Baldwin IT (2001) Defensive function of herbivore-induced plant volatile emissions in nature. Science 291:2141–2144
Kessler D, Diezel C, Baldwin IT (2010) Changing pollinators as a means of escaping herbivores. Curr Biol 20:237–242
Kiers ET, Duhamel M, Beesetty Y, Mensah JA, Franken O, Verbruggen E, Fellbaum CR, Kowalchuk GA, Hart MM, Bago A, Palmer TM, West SA, Vandenkoornhuyse P, Jansa J, Bücking H (2011) Reciprocal rewards stabilise cooperation in the mycorrhizal symbiosis. Science 333(6044):880–882.
Knudsen JT, Eriksson R, Gershenzon J, Stähl B (2006) Diversity and distribution of floral scent. Bot Rev 72:1–120
Lomáscolo SB, Levey DJ, Kimball RT, Bolker BM, Alborn HT (2010) Dispersers shape fruit diversity in Ficus (Moraceae). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107:14668–14672
Long G (1954) Contribution a l’étude de la végétation de la Tunisie centrale. Ann Serv Bot et Agric Tunisie 27:1–38
Louda SM, Collinge SK (1992) Plant resistence to insect herbivores: a field test of environmental stress hypothesis. Ecology 73:153–169
Lovelock J (1992) Gaia—Die Erde ist ein Lebewesen. Scherz, Munich
MacArthur RH (1969) Species packing, and what interspecific competition minimizes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 64:1369–1371
McNaughton SJ (1983) Compensatory plant growth as a response to herbivory. Oikos 40:329–336
Molisch H (1937) Der Einfluss einer Pflanze auf die andere. Allelopathie. Gustav Fischer, Jena
Montoya D, Zavala MA, Rodriguez MA, Purves DW (2008) Animal versus wind dispersal and the robustness of tree species to deforestation. Science 320:1502–1504
Muchhala N (2007) Adaptive trade-off in floral morphology mediates specialisation for flowers pollinated by bats and hummingbirds. Am Nat 169:494–504
Müller-Hohenstein K (1978) Die ostmarokkanischen Hochplateaus. Erlanger geographische Arbeiten 7, Erlangen
Muller-Landau HC (2010) The tolerance-fecundity trade-off and the maintenance of diversity in seed size. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107:4242–4247
Naug D, Arathi HS (2007) Receiver bias for exaggerated signals in honeybees and its implications for the evolution of floral displays. Biol Lett 3:635–637
Oksanen L (1990) Predation, herbivory, and plant strategies along gradients of primary productivity. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (eds) Perspectives on plant competition. Academic Press, London, pp 445–474
Potthoff M, Johst K, Gutt J, Wissel C (2006) Clumped dispersal and species coexistence. Ecol Model 198:247–254
Poulsen JR, Clark CJ, Smith TB (2001) Seed dispersal by a diurnal primate community in the Dja Reserve, Cameroon. J Trop Ecol 17:787–808
Price PW (1991) The plant vigor hypothesis and herbivore attack. Oikos 62:244–251
Rausher MD (2001) Co-evolution and plant resistance to natural enemies. Nature 411:857–864
Rees M, Grubb PJ, Kelly D (1996) Quantifying the impact of competition and spatial heterogeneity on the structure and dynamics of a four-species guild of winter annuals. Am Nat 147:1–32
Reich PB, Oleksyn J, Modrzynski J, Mrozinski P, Hobbie SE, Eissenstat DM, Chorover J, Chadwick OA, Hale CM, Tjoelker MG (2005) Linking litter calcium, earthworms and soil properties: a common garden test with 14 tree species. Ecol Lett 8:811-818
Reichelt G, Wilmanns O (1973) Vegetationsgeographie. Das geographische Seminar. Westermann, Braun-schweig
Remmert H (1991) The mosaic-cycle concept of ecosystems. Springer, Heidelberg
Renner SS (2005) Rewardless flowers in the angiosperms and the role of insect cognition in their evolution. In: Waser NM, Ollerton J (eds) Specialisation and generalisation in pollination systems. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 123–144
Riffel JA, Lei H, Christensen TA, Hildebrand JG (2009) Characterisation and coding of behaviorally significant odor mixtures. Curr Biol 19:335–340
Rode MW, Dageförde A, Görlitz G (1996) Einfluss der Baumart auf den Nährstoffeintrag und seine Bedeutung für die natürliche Waldentwicklung auf nährstoffarmen Böden Norddeutschlands. Verh Ges Ökol 26:139–145
Rosindell J, Hubbell SP, Etienne RS (2011) The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography at age ten. Trends Ecol Evol 26:340–348
Rousseaux MC, Julkunen-Tiitto R, Searles PS, Scope AL, Aphalo PJ, Ballaré CL (2004) Solar UV-B radiation affects leaf quality and insect herbivory in the southern beech tree Nothofagus antartica. Oecologia 138:505–512
Russo SE, Augspurger CK (2004) Aggregated seed dispersal by spider monkeys limits recruitment to clumped patterns in Virola calophylla. Ecol Lett 7:1058–1067
Schaefer HM, Braun J (2009) Reliable cues and signals of fruit quality are contingent on the habitat in black elder (Sambucus nigra). Ecology 90:1564–1573
Schaefer HM, Rolshausen G (2006) Plants on red alert—do insects pay attention? BioEssays 28:65–71
Schaefer HM, Schmidt V, Bairlein F (2003a) Discrimination abilities for nutrients: which difference matters for choosy birds and why? Anim Behav 65:531–541
Schaefer HM, Schmidt V, Winkler H (2003b) Testing the defence trade-off hypothesis: how contents of nutrients and secondary compounds affect fruit removal. Oikos 102:318–328
Schaefer HM, Valido A, Jordano P (2014) Birds see the true colours of fruits to live off the fat of the land. Proc Biol Sci 281:20132516
Seidler TG, Plotkin JB (2006) Seed dispersal and spatial pattern in tropical trees. PLoS Biol 4:2132–2137
Seymour RS, Gibernan M, Ito K (2003) Thermogenesis and respiration of inflorescences of the dead horse arum Helicodiceros muscivorus, a pseudo-termoregulatory aroid associated with fly pollination. Funct Ecol 17:886–894
Slatkin M (1974) Competition and regional coexistence. Ecology 55:128–134
Stein C, Unsicher SB, Kahmen A, Wagner M, Audorff V, Auge H, Prati D, Weiser WW (2010) Impact of invertebrate herbivory in grasslands depends on plant species diversity. Ecol 91:1639–1650
Stinchcombe JR, Rausher MD (2001) Diffuse selection on resistance to deer herbivory in the ivyleaf morning glory, Ipomoea hederacea. Am Nat 158:376–388
Stoudtjesdijk PH, Barkman JJ (1992) Microclimate, vegetation and fauna. Opulus Press, Knivsta
Stournaras KE, Lo E, Böhning-Gaese K, Cazetta E, Dehling DM, Schleuning M, Stoddard MC, Donoghue MJ, Prum RO, Schaefer HM (2013) How colorful are fruits? Limited color diversity in fleshy fruits on local and global scales. New Phytol 198:617–629
Stournaras KE, Prum RO, Schaefer HM (2015) Fruit advertisement strategies in two Neotropical plant-seed disperser markets. Evol Ecol 29:489–509
Strauss SY, Irwin RE (2004) Ecological and evolutionary consequences of multispecies plant-animal interactions. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 35:433–466
Strauss SY, Whittall JB (2006) Non-pollinator agents of selection on floral traits. In: Harder LD, Barrett SCH (eds) Ecology and evolution of flowers. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 120–138
Tewksbury JJ, Reagan KM, Machnicki NJ, Carlo TA, Haak DC, Calderón Peñaloza AL, Levey DJ (2008) Evolutionary ecology of pungency in wild chilies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105:11808–11811
Thompson JN (2005) The geographic mosaic of coevolution. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Tilman D (1982) Resource competition and community structure. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Tilman D (1997) Mechanisms of plant competition. In: Crawley MJ (ed) Plant ecology, 2nd edn. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 239–261
Tilman D, Wedin DA (1993) Competition among grasses along a nitrogen gradient: initial conditions and mechanisms of competition. Ecol Monogr 63:199–229
Treseder KK, Davidson DW, Ehleringer JB (1995) Absorption of ant-provided carbon dioxide and nitrogen by a tropical epiphyte. Nature 375:137–139
Viles HA (1988) Biogeomorphology. Blackwell, Oxford
Vitousek PM, Howarth RW (1991) Nitrogen limitation on land and in the sea: How can it occur? Biogeochemistry 13:87–115
von Hessberg A (1998) Vegetationsstrukturen in den Habitaten des Auerhuhns (Tetrao urogallus) im Fichtelgebirge. Dipl. Thesis Lehrstuhl Biogeographie, Universität Bayreuth
Weiss MR (1995) Floral color change: a widespread functional convergence. Am J Bot 82:167–185
Wenny DG (2000) Seed dispersal, seed predation, and seedling recruitment of a neotropical montane tree. Ecol Monogr 70:331–351
Wenny DG, Levey DJ (1998) Directed seed dispersal by bellbirds in a tropical cloud forest. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95:6204–6207
Werner GDA, Strassmann JE, Ivens ABF, Engelmoer DJP, Verbruggen E, Queller DC, DC NR, Johnson NC, Hammerstein P, Kiers ET (2014) Evolution of microbial markets. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111:1237–1244
Wilson JB, Agnew DQ (1992) Positive-feedback switches in plant communities. In: Begon M, Fitter AH (eds) Advances in ecological research 23. Academic Press, London, pp 263–336
Yoda K, Kira T, Ogawa H, Hozumi K (1963) Self-thinning in overcrowded pure stands under cultivated and natural conditions. J Biol 14:107–129
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schulze, ED., Beck, E., Buchmann, N., Clemens, S., Müller-Hohenstein, K., Scherer-Lorenzen, M. (2019). Interactions Between Plants, Plant Communities and the Abiotic and Biotic Environment. In: Plant Ecology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56233-8_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56233-8_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-56231-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-56233-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)