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- Dítě, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
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Glacial-relict symptoms in the Western Carpathian flora
- 2018
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Ingår i: Folia Geobotanica. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1211-9520 .- 1874-9348. ; 53, s. 277-300
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Glacial relicts have been regionally morecommon in glacial than in recent times. A rigorousassessment of which species are indeed glacial relictsis extremely difficult because direct evidence is untraceableor equivocal for many species.We aimed to identifyspecies of theWestern Carpathian flora (vascular plants,bryophytes and terrestrial lichens) that display apparentbiogeographical and ecological symptoms, suggesting awider regional or supra-regional distribution during glacialtimes, or at least before the middle-Holoceneclimate optimum. We worked with the premise thatexemplary relict species should tolerate continentaland/or arctic climates, should have large distributionranges with disjunctions, being regionally rare and ecologicallyconservative nowadays, should be associatedwith habitats that occurred during glacial times (tundra,steppe, peatland, open coniferous forest) and shoulddisplay a restriction of ecological niches in the studyregion. The assessed species were primarily those withboreo-continental or artcic-alpine distribution.We demonstrateda conspicuous gradient of glacial-relict symptoms,with Carex vaginata, Betula nana, Trichophorumpumilum, Nephroma arcticum, Saxifraga hirculus andCladonia stellaris topping the ranking. Based on thearbitrary ranking, 289 taxa can be considered highprobabilityrelicts. For only a minority of them, thereare any phylogeographical and/or palaeoecological dataavailable from the study area. Biogeographical and ecologicalsymptoms of 144 taxa suggest that they retreatedrapidly after the Last Glacial Maximum whereas otherspecies probably retreated later. The first principal componentof biogeographical symptoms sorted speciesfrom circumpolar arctic-alpine species of acidicpeatlands and wet tundra to strongly continental speciesof steppe, steppe-tundra and mineral-rich fens. Thisdifferentiation may mirror the altitudinal zonation ofglacial vegetation in the Western Carpathians.
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- Kattge, Jens, et al.
(författare)
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TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
- 2020
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:1, s. 119-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
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