| 1. |
- Dengler, Juergen, et al.
(författare)
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GrassPlot - a database of multi-scale plant diversity in Palaearctic grasslands
- 2018
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Ingår i: Phytocoenologia. - : Schweizerbart. - 0340-269X. ; 48:3, s. 331-347
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- GrassPlot is a collaborative vegetation-plot database organised by the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and listed in the Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases (GIVD ID EU-00-003). GrassPlot collects plot records (releves) from grasslands and other open habitats of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm. It focuses on precisely delimited plots of eight standard grain sizes (0.0001; 0.001;... 1,000 m(2)) and on nested-plot series with at least four different grain sizes. The usage of GrassPlot is regulated through Bylaws that intend to balance the interests of data contributors and data users. The current version (v. 1.00) contains data for approximately 170,000 plots of different sizes and 2,800 nested-plot series. The key components are richness data and metadata. However, most included datasets also encompass compositional data. About 14,000 plots have near-complete records of terricolous bryophytes and lichens in addition to vascular plants. At present, GrassPlot contains data from 36 countries throughout the Palaearctic, spread across elevational gradients and major grassland types. GrassPlot with its multi-scale and multi-taxon focus complements the larger international vegetationplot databases, such as the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and the global database " sPlot". Its main aim is to facilitate studies on the scale-and taxon-dependency of biodiversity patterns and drivers along macroecological gradients. GrassPlot is a dynamic database and will expand through new data collection coordinated by the elected Governing Board. We invite researchers with suitable data to join GrassPlot. Researchers with project ideas addressable with GrassPlot data are welcome to submit proposals to the Governing Board.
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| 2. |
- Dengler, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Working group on dry grasslands in the Nordic and Baltic region – Outline of the project and first results for the class Festuco-Brometea
- 2006
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Ingår i: Annali di Botanica N.S.. - 0365-0812. ; 6, s. 73-100
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The vegetation databank established by our working group covers the classes Festuco-Brometea, Koelerio-Corynephoretea, and Trifolio-Geranietea sanguinei in the Nordic and Baltic region, i.e. NE Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, N Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and NW Russia. We aim to use these data to develop a consistent supra-national phytosociological classification of these xerothermic vegetation types in the study area and to analyse their biodiversity patterns. Up to now, we located some 12,500 relevés meeting our criteria, and more than 3,500 of them have already been included in the databank. We give an overview of the properties of these relevés as regards coverage of syntaxa and countries, source types, plot sizes, and cryptogam treatment. We also present first analyses for the basiphilous semi-dry grasslands (Brachypodietalia pinnati) within the Festuco-Brometea. For this group of communities, many different and incompatible classification schemes have been proposed. We give an overview of the alliance and association names that have been in use for them in the study area, accompanied by a nomenclatural assessment. The relevés presently included in the databank have been tentatively assigned to those vegetation classes whose diagnostic taxa were prevailing. Accordingly, more than 2,000 relevés have been placed in the Festuco-Brometea. These show considerable floristic differences compared to stands of the southern temperate Brachypodietalia pinnati alliances Bromion erecti, Cirsio-Brachypodion pinnati, and Agrostion vinealis. The presence degrees of Avenula pratensis and Homalothecium lutescens, for instance, are significantly increased in the study area, and those of Festuca rupicola and Euphorbia cyparissias decreased. An analysis of the species-area relationship yielded a power function with z = 0.09 which is considerably lower than increments determined by nested-plot analyses of this commu-nity type, indicating the probable incompleteness of the species lists for many of the larger plots. Finally, we give an outlook on the future objectives of the working group.
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| 3. |
- Reitalu, Triin, et al.
(författare)
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Determinants of fine-scale plant diversity in dry calcareous grasslands within the Baltic Sea region
- 2014
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Ingår i: Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-2305 .- 0167-8809. ; 182, s. 59-68
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We used an extensive dataset (1220 vegetation plots of 1 m(2)) to study vegetation gradients and fine-scale plant diversity in dry calcareous grasslands (including alvar grasslands) in the Baltic Sea region. The study area covers the entire European distributional range of alvar habitats: Sweden (Oland, Gotland, Gotaland), Estonia (Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, north Estonia, west Estonia), and western Russia (Izhora, lzborsk). Fine-scale plant diversity was characterized by species richness and standardized phylogenetic diversity (comparing the observed mean pairwise phylogenetic distance (MPD) with MPD values from random communities). Ordination techniques (DCA) were used to characterize the main vegetation gradient. Variables describing local environment, climate, the biogeographic composition of the plant communities, and geographic location were related to fine-scale species richness and phylogenetic diversity using variation partitioning techniques and linear mixed models. The main vegetation gradient in the dry calcareous grasslands in the Baltic Sea region had a strong geographic component, was associated with soil depth, species' stress- and disturbance-tolerance and the age of the grassland habitat. Fine-scale phylogenetic diversity and species richness were negatively associated suggesting that these two diversity components are influenced by different sets of environmental and historical parameters. Fine-scale species richness was unimodally associated with the main vegetation gradient, and the highest levels of species richness were found under intermediate environmental (disturbance, light conditions and temperature) conditions where there was a mixture of species from different biogeographic regions. In contrast to species richness, fine-scale phylogenetic diversity was negatively associated with the main vegetation gradient. The highest phylogenetic diversity was found in the extremely thin-soiled alvar grasslands in Gotaland and on the Baltic islands (especially on Oland) where the high phylogenetic diversity is likely to be a reflection of a long history of continuous openness that has allowed time for the "collection" of phylogenetically different species within these unique habitats. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Riibak, Kersti, et al.
(författare)
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Dark diversity in dry calcareous grasslands is determined by dispersal ability and stress-tolerance
- 2015
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Ingår i: Ecography. - : Wiley. - 1600-0587 .- 0906-7590. ; 38:7, s. 713-721
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Temperate calcareous grasslands are characterized by high levels of species richness at small spatial scales. Nevertheless, many species from a habitat-specific regional species pool may be absent from local communities and represent the dark diversity' of these sites. Here we investigate dry calcareous grasslands in northern Europe to determine what proportion of the habitat-specific species pool is realized at small scales (i.e. how the community completeness varies) and which mechanisms may be contributing to the relative sizes of the observed and dark diversity. We test whether the absence of particular species in potentially suitable grassland sites is a consequence of dispersal limitation and/or a low ability to tolerate stress (e.g. drought and grazing). We analysed a total of 1223 vegetation plots (1 x 1 m) from dry calcareous grasslands in Sweden, Estonia and western Russia. The species co-occurrence approach was used to estimate the dark diversity for each plot. We calculated the maximum dispersal distance for each of the 291 species in our dataset by using simple plant traits (dispersal syndrome, growth form and seed characteristics). Large seed size was used as proxy for small seed number; tall plant height and low S-strategy type scores were used to characterise low stress-tolerance. Levels of small-scale community completeness were relatively low (more species were absent than present) and varied between the grasslands in different geographic areas. Species in the dark diversity were generally characterized by shorter dispersal distances and greater seed weight (fewer seeds) than species in the observed diversity. Species within the dark diversity were generally taller and had a lower tolerance of stressful conditions. We conclude that, even if temperate grasslands have high levels of small-scale plant diversity, the majority of potentially suitable species in the regional species pool may be absent as a result of dispersal limitation and low stress-tolerance.
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