Living at the edge: the functional niche occupation of woody plant communities in the submediterranean ecotone.

Different assembly mechanisms govern the structure of Mediterranean, Eurosiberian and Mixed plant communities. Combining niche occupancy components with a null model approach at different spatial scales offers new insights into the mechanisms driving plant community assembly. Considering intraspecific variability is indispensable for understanding the mechanisms governing species coexistence in species-rich ecotones.