Table 2. Model comparison at the fruit or infructescence level (of one-seeded fruits).

A) The lowland and B) the alpine communities. Measurement level (Level): F, fruit; I, infructescence. n: number of individuals. LIN: classic linear models; S&F: Smith and Fretwell’s model [6]; L&G: Lescourret and Génard’s model [22]. Bold letters indicate the best model for each model selection criterion. ´Res. Analysis´ indicates the best model as assessed by residual analysis (only when AICc and RRMSE best models differed); ‘ = ´ indicates very similar residual plots. Empty cells correspond to models that did not converge.

Community	Level	Species	n	AICc			RRMSE			Res. analysis
				LIN	S&F	L&G	LIN	S&F	L&G
A) Lowland	F	Fragaria vesca	39	69.35	127.48	98.47	0.21	0.45	0.46
		Galium boreale	16	46.36	61.86	54.89	0.34	0.61	0.76
		Galium mollugo	78	302.34	410.27	400.1	0.22	0.44	0.23
		Geranium sylvaticum	15	62.58	72.22	69.58	0.34	0.52	0.33	LIN
		Geum rivale	15	76.48	122.29	84.57	0.23	1.16	0.15	LIN
		Lathyrus linifolius	10	62.88	61.87	65.83	0.30	0.35	0.05	L&G
		Linum catharinum	71	302.96	476.48	392.81	0.23	0.78	2.21
		Lotus corniculatus	16	24.71	44.31	29.65	0.30	0.61	1.23
		Polygala vulgaris	48	83.95	102.83	168.51	0.26	0.32	0.27
		Potentilla crantzii	14	32.76	58.76	61.37	0.18	0.51	1.16
		Potentilla erecta	50	208.60	212.04	310.12	0.17	0.18	0.22
		Potentilla thuringica	35	159.73	196.87	251.68	0.16	0.28	0.23
		Prunella vulgaris	24	98.23	113.68	136.56	0.20	0.30	0.43
		Ranunculus acris	22	12.14	54.93	39.83	0.19	0.54	1.29
		Vicia cracca	23	140.03	141.91	143.64	0.22	0.24	0.02	=
	I	Anthyllis vulneraria	23	64.32	87.54	76.33	0.28	0.49	0.21	LIN
		Centaurea jacea	54	83.85	207.71	154.21	0.17	0.54	1.51
		Centaurea scabiosa	24	97.50	143.21	131.26	0.23	0.64	0.13	LIN
		Knautia arvensis	13	51.90	73.86	57.60	0.30	0.79
		Leucanthemum vulgare	76	219.68	407.05	365.69	0.17	0.57	0.37
		Pilosella lactucella	36	28.20	109.52	59.98	0.23	0.75	1.29
		Pilosella officinarum	32	25.18	111.63	34.53	0.24	0.95	1.03
		Pilosella pubescens	25	108.52	191.06	127.48	0.26	1.42	1.18
		Trifolium pratense	15	72.61	112.61	70.21	0.29	1.24	0.14
B) Alpine	F	Astragalus alpinus	35	67.10	92.34	84.56	0.23	0.34	0.22	LIN
		Bartsia alpina	46	48.12	146.04	121.31	0.20	0.59	1.35
		Campanula rotundifolia	27	99.54	146.41	127.23	0.25	0.61	2.38
		Cerastium alpinum	28	57.71	128.73	73.11	0.23	0.86	0.68
		Dryas octopetala	39	134.23	207.29	180.95	0.22	0.58	0.32
		Gentiana nivalis	40	113.21	178.91	199.41	0.22	0.51	5.64
		Geranium sylvaticum	19	66.10	79.55	97.63	0.35	0.53	1.55
		Parnassia palustre	73	172.86	292.32	315.77	0.21	0.49	4.98
		Pinguicula vulgaris	16	25.23	32.39	54.04	0.24	0.33	12.1
		Potentilla crantzii	55	181.12	223.31	263.75	0.19	0.29	0.38
		Ranunculus acris	42	34.33	92.82	60.14	0.23	0.48	0.85
		Saxifraga aizodes	15	50.56	96.5	68.68	0.22	1.12	3.83
		Silene acaulis	42	132.67	177.05	190.65	0.22	0.39	0.46
		Veronica alpina	52	118.84	142.83	304.16	0.12	0.16	0.91
		Veronica fruticans	15	62.82	97.57	77.79	0.27	0.95	0.37
	I	Erigeron uniflorus	47	220.37	401.32	320.61	0.17	1.21	1.36
		Leontodon autumnalis	45	16.80	57.28	29.87	0.24	0.39	0.76
		Saussurea alpina	57	34.77	145.36	123.79	0.21	0.55	0.79