, 2011), and

(2) a maximal importance of facilitative processes under the tropics lines, where aridity may reach a peak (SGH prediction). 2. In situ manipulative experiments. To our knowledge, in situ manipulations have been implemented only once in TAE ( Smith, 1984), and allowed identifying a complex network of interactions including interspecific competition and indirect intraspecific facilitation. In the specific Epacadostat in vivo case of TAE, experimental manipulations would allow investigating the additivity or multiplicability of competitive and facilitative effects, two classical features of the SGH that have recently been challenged outside the tropics ( Malkinson and Tielbörger, 2010). Such a test may be conducted either

by removing one or several components of the existing communities, or by transplanting in common gardens a whole set of species mixture and comparing the fitness of target species (e.g. Michalet et al., 2011). Where manipulations are not possible, observations of different set of mixtures may be conducted, only if the local environment is estimated similar among treatments (e.g. Michel et al., 2012). Given the paucity of available data on plant–plant interactions in TAE, most of the research in this field remains to be done. It constitutes an important scientific challenge because plant–plant interactions are expected to be facilitative and play a crucial role on plant community organization in this type of environment,

especially in view of recent environmental changes Selleck Ceritinib caused by increasing intensity of human activities. By reviewing the environmental characteristics of tropical areas, we make doubtless the fact that interactions in TAE will be governed by distinctive parameters from those observed in extratropical alpine environments where 2-hydroxyphytanoyl-CoA lyase most of the ‘alpine’ knowledge on interactions come from. We identified the major environmental drivers of plant–plant interactions that are presumed to vary from extratropical environments to TAE (Fig. 1), which permitted to raise a number of central hypotheses to be tested. Among them, determining whether the variation of interactions along TAE gradients fit the aridity model or the alpine model may be a priority as it would allow testing the SGH in TAE. By proposing an array of complementary methodologies we provide a basic toolkit to test these hypotheses with the objective to extend the conceptual framework on plant–plant interactions. We warmly thank the constructive suggestions provided by C. Holzapfel and two anonymous reviewers. Our manuscript is undoubtedly a stronger contribution as a result of their efforts. “
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