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The Effect Of Consumers And Mutualists Of Vaccinium Membranaceum At Mount St. Helens: Dependence On Successional Context, Suann Yang, Eelke Jongejans, Sylvia Yang, John G. Bishop

Biology

In contrast to secondary succession, studies of terrestrial primary succession largely ignore the role of biotic interactions, other than plant facilitation and competition, despite the expectation that simplified interaction webs and propagule-dependent demographics may amplify the effects of consumers and mutualists. We investigated whether successional context determined the impact of consumers and mutualists by quantifying their effects on reproduction by the shrub Vaccinium membranaceum in primary and secondary successional sites at Mount St. Helens (Washington, USA), and used simulations to explore the effects of these interactions on colonization. Species interactions differed substantially between sites, and the combined effect of consumers …