Competition Constrained by Low Nutrient Supply: An Example Involving Hieracium floribundum Wimm & Grab. (Compositae)

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Abstract
To test whether low nutrient supply limits the intensity of competitive interactions among plants by limiting their growth, the reproduction and survival of a target species (Hieracium floribundum Wimm and Grab.) were compared in the presence and absence of neighbours, both on infertile soil and in fertilized plots in an abandoned pasture. Removing neighbours increased the recruitment and survival of the target species, but only in fertilized plots (i.e. significant neighbour removal .times. fertilization interaction). Even when allowing for increased recruitment and survival due to fertilizer itself, removing neighbours still improved recruitment and survival more in fertilized plots than in unfertilized plots. These results indicate that low nutrient supply can constrain competition by limiting plant growth at the infertile end of a naturally occurring, soil fertility gradient. Change in population density along such a gradient probably reflects variation in the intensity of competition along the gradient.

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