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- Ehrlén, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Land use and population growth of Primula veris : an experimental demographic approach
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0021-8901 .- 1365-2664. ; 42:2, s. 317-326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1. Changes in land use are the primary cause of decline for many plant species. Efficient management actions for such species must be based on knowledge of the key phases of the plant life cycles that respond most to changes in environmental factors. 2. To assess how grazing influences population viability of the perennial rosette herb Primula veris, we applied four experimental treatments to abandoned grasslands and recorded the demographic response in permanent plots and seed sowing experiments over 3 years. 3. Treatments had strong effects on population viability. Transition matrix models showed that cutting the surrounding vegetation had no effect on population growth rate (lambda). However, when this was combined with litter removal lambda increased to 1.46, compared with 1.11 in controls. With disturbance and complete removal of the surrounding vegetation the effect was even stronger, and lambda increased to 1.60. 4. Increases in lambda were primarily a result of increased growth of the smallest rosettes, and increased seedling production. In contrast, the performance of larger P. veris individuals was not affected by experimental treatments. 5. The higher the elasticity of a particular life cycle transition, the less the change in the transition rate caused by treatments. This suggests that plants are able partly to buffer the effects of environmental variation by minimizing changes in the life cycle transitions that are most important to population growth rate. 6. Synthesis and applications. Experimental demographic approaches provide an important tool for assessing how grazing and other types of management influence species viability, and help to unravel the mechanisms underlying such relationships. With such information it is possible to predict the effects of novel types of management and land-use scenarios on population viability. For P. veris, we identified seedling establishment as a key phase in the life cycle, and litter accumulation as a key environmental factor, suggesting that these should be prime targets for management. One practice that is likely to favour as well as seedling establishment preventing litter accumulation is late summer grazing.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Lehtilä, Kari, et al.
(författare)
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Habitat change and demography of Primula veris : Identification of management targets
- 2006
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Ingår i: Conservation Biology. - : Wiley. - 0888-8892 .- 1523-1739. ; 20:3, s. 833-843
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although the effects of deterministic factors on population viability often are more important than stochasticity, few researchers have dealt with the effect of deterministic habitat changes on plant population demography We assessed population viability for the perennial herb Primula veris L. and identified targets for management based on demographic data from five different habitat types representing different degrees of canopy closure. We conducted replicate studies at the border of the distribution area and in more central parts. Demographic patterns were similar between the two regions. Most study populations had a positive population growth, and only populations in late phases of forest succession showed consistently negative trends. The populations of open habitats had high seedling recruitment, and the populations of early and middle forest succession had high seed production. The importance of survival for population growth rate increased with increasing habitat closure, whereas the importance of growth and reproduction decreased. Results of the elasticity analysis suggested that the best method to manage decreasing late-successional populations is to increase survival of the largest individuals. The life-table response experiment (LTRE) analysis, however, showed that survival of the largest individuals contributed little to differences in population growth rates of different habitats, whereas seed production and growth of small individuals were more important. Moreover, direct perturbation of the performance of the largest stages showed that late-successional populations would not attain positive population growth even if the largest stages had no mortality at all. We conclude that restoration of recruitment is the only possibility for positive population growth in late-successional populations of P. veris, although the elasticities of recruitment transitions are low. Our results also suggest that retrospective demographic methods such as LIRE constitute an important and necessary complement to prospective methods such as elasticities in identifying management targets.
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| 4. |
- Leimu, Roosa, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of two types of herbivores on the population dynamics of a perennial herb
- 2006
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Ingår i: Basic and Applied Ecology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1439-1791 .- 1618-0089. ; 7:3, s. 224-235
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The joint effects of multiple herbivores on their shared host plant have received increasing interest recently. The influence of herbivores on population dynamics of their host plants, especially the relative roles of different types of damage, is, however, still poorly understood. Here, we present a modelling approach, including both deterministic and stochastic matrix modelling, to be used in estimating fitness effects of multiple herbivores on perennial plants. We examined the effects and relative roles of two specialist herbivores, a pre-dispersal seed predator, Euphranta connexa, and a Leaf-feeding moth, Abrostola asclepiadis, on the population dynamics and long-term fitness of their shared host plant, a Long-lived perennial herb Vincetoxicum hirundinaria (Asclepiadaceae). We collected demographic data during 3 years and combined these data with the effects of natural levels of herbivory measured from the same individuals. We found that both seed predation and leaf herbivory reduced population growth of V. hirundinaria, but only very high damage levels changed the growth trend of the vigorously growing study populations from positive to negative. Demographic modelling indicated that seed predation had a greater impact on plant population growth than leaf herbivory. The effect of leaf herbivory was weaker and diminished with increasing level of seed predation. Evaluation of individual fitness components, however, suggested that leaf herbivory contributed more strongly to host plant fitness than seed predation. Our results emphasize that understanding the effects of a particular herbivore on plant population dynamics requires also knowledge on other herbivores present in the system, because the effect of a particular type of herbivory on plant population dynamics is likely to vary according to the intensity of other types of herbivory. Furthermore, evaluating herbivore impact from using individual fitness components does not necessarily reflect the long-term effects on total plant fitness.
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