Temporal dynamics of Grime's CSR strategies in plant communities during 60 years of succession

Abstract

Grime's competitive, stress-tolerant, ruderal (CSR) theory predicts a shift in plant communities from ruderal to stress-tolerant strategies during secondary succession. However, this fundamental tenet lacks empirical validation using long-term continuous successional data. Utilizing a 60-year longitudinal data of old-field succession, we investigated the community-level dynamics of plant strategies over time. Our findings reveal that while plant communities generally transitioned from ruderal to stress-tolerant strategies during succession, initial abandonment conditions crucially shaped early successional strategies, leading to varied strategy trajectories across different fields. Furthermore, we found a notable divergence in the CSR strategies of alien and native species over succession. Initially, alien and native species exhibited similar ruderal strategies, but in later stages, alien species exhibited higher ruderal and lower stress tolerance compared to native species. Overall, our findings underscore the applicability of Grime's predictions regarding temporal shifts in CSR strategies depending on both initial community conditions and species origin.