| 1. |
- Allan, Eric, et al.
(författare)
-
Interannual variation in land-use intensity enhances grassland multidiversity
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 1091-6490 .- 0027-8424. ; 111:1, s. 308-313
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although temporal heterogeneity is a well-accepted driver of biodiversity, effects of interannual variation in land-use intensity (LUI) have not been addressed yet. Additionally, responses to land use can differ greatly among different organisms; therefore, overall effects of land-use on total local biodiversity are hardly known. To test for effects of LUI (quantified as the combined intensity of fertilization, grazing, and mowing) and interannual variation in LUI (SD in LUI across time), we introduce a unique measure of whole-ecosystem biodiversity, multidiversity. This synthesizes individual diversity measures across up to 49 taxonomic groups of plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria from 150 grasslands. Multidiversity declined with increasing LUI among grasslands, particularly for rarer species and aboveground organisms, whereas common species and belowground groups were less sensitive. However, a high level of interannual variation in LUI increased overall multidiversity at low LUI and was even more beneficial for rarer species because it slowed the rate at which the multidiversity of rare species declined with increasing LUI. In more intensively managed grasslands, the diversity of rarer species was, on average, 18% of the maximum diversity across all grasslands when LUI was static over time but increased to 31% of the maximum when LUI changed maximally over time. In addition to decreasing overall LUI, we suggest varying LUI across years as a complementary strategy to promote biodiversity conservation.
|
|
| 2. |
- Klinger, Yves P., et al.
(författare)
-
iPhenology : Using open-access citizen science photos to track phenology at continental scale
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Methods in Ecology and Evolution. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2041-210X. ; 14:6, s. 1424-1431
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Photo observations are a highly valuable but rarely used source of citizen science (CS) data. Recently, the number of publicly available photo observations has increased strongly, for example, due to the use of smartphone applications for species identification. This has enabled the raising of ecological insights in poorly studied subjects. One of the fields with the highest potential to benefit from the use of photo observations is phenology. We propose a workflow for iPhenology, the use of publicly available photo observations to track phenological events at large scales. The workflow comprises data acquisition, cleaning of observations, phenological classification and modelling spatiotemporal patterns of phenology. We explore the suitability of iPhenology to observe key phenological stages in the plant reproductive cycle of a model species and discuss limitations and future prospects of the approach using the example of an invasive species in Europe. We show that iPhenology is suitable to track key phenological events of widespread species. However, the number and quality of available observations may differ among species and phenological stages. Overall, publicly available CS photo observations are suitable to track key phenological events and can thus significantly advance the knowledge on the timing and drivers of plant phenology. In future, integrating the workflow with automated image processing and analysis may enable real-time tracking of plant phenology.
|
|
| 3. |
- Klinger, Yves P., et al.
(författare)
-
Mowing machinery and migratory sheep herds are complementary dispersal vectors for grassland species
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Applied Vegetation Science. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1402-2001 .- 1654-109X. ; 24:2
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim We assessed the role of mowing machinery and endozoochory by migratory sheep as dispersal vectors in semi-natural grasslands by comparing the species compositions and traits of species found in the vectors to the regional above-ground vegetation and soil seed bank. Furthermore, we discuss how their interplay may affect the conservation of semi-natural grasslands. Location Rhon Mountains, central Europe. Methods Plant material from mowers (n = 12 from one date) and dung samples from migratory sheep (n = 39 from 13 dates) were collected and the dispersed plant species were determined using the emergence method. We compared the species compositions to the regional above-ground vegetation and seed bank using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and indicator species analysis. Furthermore, we compared functional traits of the dispersed species to traits of non-dispersed species of the regional species pools by calculating log-response ratios and performing metaregressions. Results While 43 species were shared between the vectors, the vegetation compositions differed from each other. Mower samples were more similar to the above-ground vegetation whereas dung samples were more similar to the seed bank. Mowers and sheep endozoochory favoured the dispersal of species with different traits and phenologies. Species with small seed sizes were prevalent in both vectors. Mowers were less selective concerning most traits, but favoured high-growing grasses such as Alopecurus pratensis and Trisetum flavescens. Sheep dung samples contained less grasses and more palatable species, such as Urtica dioica. Mowers were most selective concerning phenology, whereas endozoochory by migratory sheep also included late-flowering species. Conclusion Sheep endozoochory and mowing machinery are complementary dispersal vectors favouring species with differing functional traits. Sheep endozoochory enables dispersal of species that have unfavourable traits (e.g. low releasing heights) or phenologies for dispersal by mowing machinery. To ensure the dispersal of a high number of plant species in semi-natural grasslands, the interplay of different vectors should be considered.
|
|
| 4. |
- Soliveres, Santiago, et al.
(författare)
-
Biodiversity at multiple trophic levels is needed for ecosystem multifunctionality
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 536:7617, s. 456-459
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many experiments have shown that loss of biodiversity reduces the capacity of ecosystems to provide the multiple services on which humans depend. However, experiments necessarily simplify the complexity of natural ecosystems and will normally control for other important drivers of ecosystem functioning, such as the environment or land use. In addition, existing studies typically focus on the diversity of single trophic groups, neglecting the fact that biodiversity loss occurs across many taxa and that the functional effects of any trophic group may depend on the abundance and diversity of others. Here we report analysis of the relationships between the species richness and abundance of nine trophic groups, including 4,600 above- and below-ground taxa, and 14 ecosystem services and functions and with their simultaneous provision (or multifunctionality) in 150 grasslands. We show that high species richness in multiple trophic groups (multitrophic richness) had stronger positive effects on ecosystem services than richness in any individual trophic group; this includes plant species richness, the most widely used measure of biodiversity. On average, three trophic groups influenced each ecosystem service, with each trophic group influencing at least one service. Multitrophic richness was particularly beneficial for 'regulating' and 'cultural' services, and for multifunctionality, whereas a change in the total abundance of species or biomass in multiple trophic groups (the multitrophic abundance) positively affected supporting services. Multitrophic richness and abundance drove ecosystem functioning as strongly as abiotic conditions and land-use intensity, extending previous experimental results to real-world ecosystems. Primary producers, herbivorous insects and microbial decomposers seem to be particularly important drivers of ecosystem functioning, as shown by the strong and frequent positive associations of their richness or abundance with multiple ecosystem services. Our results show that multitrophic richness and abundance support ecosystem functioning, and demonstrate that a focus on single groups has led to researchers to greatly underestimate the functional importance of biodiversity.
|
|
| 5. |
- Soliveres, Santiago, et al.
(författare)
-
Locally rare species influence grassland ecosystem multifunctionality
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8436 .- 1471-2970. ; 371:1694
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Species diversity promotes the delivery of multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality). However, the relative functional importance of rare and common species in driving the biodiversity-multifunctionality relationship remains unknown. We studied the relationship between the diversity of rare and common species (according to their local abundances and across nine different trophic groups), and multifunctionality indices derived from 14 ecosystem functions on 150 grasslands across a land-use intensity (LUI) gradient. The diversity of above-and below-ground rare species had opposite effects, with rare above-ground species being associated with high levels of multifunctionality, probably because their effects on different functions did not trade off against each other. Conversely, common species were only related to average, not high, levels of multifunctionality, and their functional effects declined with LUI. Apart from the community-level effects of diversity, we found significant positive associations between the abundance of individual species and multifunctionality in 6% of the species tested. Species-specific functional effects were best predicted by their response to LUI: species that declined in abundance with land use intensification were those associated with higher levels of multifunctionality. Our results highlight the importance of rare species for ecosystem multifunctionality and help guiding future conservation priorities.
|
|
