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Interspecific differences in functional traits are a key factor for explaining the positive diversity–productivity relationship in plant communities. However, the role of intraspecific variation attributable to phenotypic plasticity in diversity–productivity relationships has largely been overlooked. By taking a wheat (Triticum aestivum)–maize (Zea mays) intercrop as an elementary example of mixed vegetation, we show that plasticity in plant traits is an important factor contributing to complementary light capture in species mixtures. We conceptually separated net biodiversity effect into the effect attributable to interspecific trait differences and species distribution (community structure effect), and the effect attributable to phenotypic plasticity. Using a novel plant architectural modelling approach, wholevegetation light capture was simulated for scenarios with and without plasticity based on empirical plant trait data. Light capture was 23% higher in the intercrop with plasticity than the expected value from monocultures, of which 36% was attributable to community structure and 64% was attributable to plasticity. For wheat, plasticity in tillering was the main reason for increased light capture, whereas for intercropped maize, plasticity induced a major reduction in light capture. The results illustrate the potential of plasticity for enhancing resource acquisition in mixed stands, and indicate the importance of plasticity in the performance of species-diverse plant communities.

Mixed cropping is practised widely in developing countries and is gaining increasing interest for sustainable agriculture in developed countries. Plants in intercrops grow differently from plants in single crops, due to interspecific plant interactions, but adaptive plant morphological responses to competition in mixed stands have not been studied in detail. Here the maize (Zea mays) response to mixed cultivation with wheat (Triticum aestivum) is described. Evidence is provided that early responses of maize to the modified light environment in mixed stands propagate throughout maize development, resulting in different phenotypes compared with pure stands. Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), red:far-red ratio (R:FR), leaf development, and final organ sizes of maize grown in three cultivation systems were compared: pure maize, an intercrop with a small distance (25cm) between maize and wheat plants, and an intercop with a large distance (44cm) between the maize and the wheat. Compared with maize in pure stands, maize in the mixed stands had lower leaf and collar appearance rates, increased blade and sheath lengths at low ranks and smaller sizes at high ranks, increased blade elongation duration, and decreased R:FR and PAR at the plant base during early development. Effects were strongest in the treatment with a short distance between wheat and maize strips. The data suggest a feedback between leaf initiation and leaf emergence at the plant level and coordination between blade and sheath growth at the phytomer level. A conceptual model, based on coordination rules, is proposed to explain the development of the maize plant in pure and mixed stands.