The need for alternative plant species interaction models

Abstract Aims The limitations of classical Lotka–Volterra models for analyzing and interpreting competitive interactions among plant species have become increasingly clear in recent years. Three the problems that been identified are (i) absence frequency-dependence, which is important long-term coexistence species, (ii) need to take unmeasured (often unmeasurable) variables influencing individual performance into account (e.g. spatial variation soil nutrients or pathogens) (iii) separate measurement error from biological variation. Methods We modified competition address these limitations. fitted eight alternative pin-point cover data on Festuca ovina Agrostis capillaris over 3 years an herbaceous community Denmark. A Bayesian modeling framework was used ascertain whether model amendments improve increase their ability predict dynamics test hypotheses. Important Findings Inclusion frequency-dependence error, but not variables, improved greatly. Our results emphasize importance comparing quantitative studies dynamics. Only by considering possible can we identify forces driving assembly change, our behavior communities.