| 1. |
- Hattermann, Dirk, et al.
(författare)
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New insights into island vegetation composition and species diversity : Consistent and conditional responses across contrasting insular habitats at the plot-scale
- 2018
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - San Fransisco : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 13:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Most island-ecology studies focus on the properties of entire island communities, thus neglecting species-environment relationships operating at the habitat-level. Habitat-specific variation in the strength and sign of these relationships will conceal patterns observed on the island scale and may preclude a mechanistic interpretation of patterns and processes. Habitat-specific species-environment relationships may also depend on the descriptor of ecological communities. This paper presents a comprehensive plot-based analysis of local vegetation composition and species diversity (species richness and species evenness) of (i) rocky shore, (ii) semi-natural grassland and (iii) coniferous forest habitats in three Baltic archipelagos in Sweden. To identify differences and consistencies between habitats and descriptors, we assessed the relative contributions of the variable-sets “region”, “topography”, “soil morphology”, “soil fertility”, “soil water”, “light availability”, “distance” and “island configuration” on local vegetation composition, species richness and species evenness. We quantified the impact of “management history” on the descriptors of local grassland communities by a newly introduced grazing history index (GHI). Unlike species diversity, changes in vegetation composition were related to most of the variable-sets. The relative contributions of the variable-sets were mostly habitat-specific and strongly contingent on the descriptor involved. Within each habitat, richness and evenness were only partly affected by the same variable-sets, and if so, their relative contribution varied between diversity proxies. Across all habitats, soil variable-sets showed highly consistent effects on vegetation composition and species diversity and contributed most to the variance explained. GHI was a powerful predictor, explaining high proportions of variation in all three descriptors of grassland species communities. The proportion of unexplained variance was habitat-specific, possibly reflecting a community maturity gradient. Our results reveal that species richness alone is an incomplete representation of local species diversity. Finally, we stress the need of including habitat-based approaches when analyzing complex species-environment relationships on islands.
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| 2. |
- Van Zuijlen, K., et al.
(författare)
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Bryophytes of Europe Traits (BET) dataset: a fundamental tool for bryological studies
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Vegetation Science. - 1100-9233 .- 1654-1103.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bryophytes are a diverse group of organisms with unique properties, yet they are severelyunderrepresented in plant trait databases. Building on the recently published European Red List ofbryophytes and previous trait compilations, we present the Bryophytes of Europe Traits (BET) dataset,including biological traits such as those related to life history, growth habit, sexual and vegetativereproduction, ecological traits such as indicator values, substrate and habitat, and bioclimatic variablesbased on the species’ European range. The dataset includes values for 65 traits and 25 bioclimaticvariables, containing more than 135 000 trait values with a completeness of 82.7% on average. Thedataset will enable future studies in bryophyte biology, ecology and conservation and may help toanswer fundamental questions in bryology.
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| 3. |
- Vanneste, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Functional trait variation of forest understorey plant communities across Europe
- 2019
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Ingår i: Basic and Applied Ecology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1439-1791 .- 1618-0089. ; 34, s. 1-14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Global environmental changes are expected to alter the functional characteristics of understorey herb-layer communities, potentially affecting forest ecosystem functioning. However, little is known about what drives the variability of functional traits in forest understories. Here, we assessed the role of different environmental drivers in shaping the functional trait distribution of understorey herbs in fragmented forests across three spatial scales. We focused on 708 small, deciduous forest patches located in 16 agricultural landscape windows, spanning a 2500-km macroclimatic gradient across the temperate forest biome in Europe. We estimated the relative effect of patch-scale, landscape-scale and macroclimatic variables on the community mean and variation of plant height, specific leaf area and seed mass. Macroclimatic variables (monthly temperature and precipitation extremes) explained the largest proportion of variation in community trait means (on average 77% of the explained variation). In contrast, patch-scale factors dominated in explaining community trait variation (on average 68% of the explained variation). Notably, patch age, size and internal heterogeneity had a positive effect on the community-level variability. Landscape-scale variables explained only a minor part of the variation in both trait distribution properties. The variation explained by shared combinations of the variable groups was generally negligible. These findings highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial scales in predictions of environmental-change effects on the functionality of forest understories. We propose that forest management sustainability could benefit from conserving larger, historically continuous and internally heterogeneous forest patches to maximise ecosystem service diversity in rural landscapes.
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