| 1. |
- 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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| 2. |
- Björkman, Anne, 1981, et al.
(författare)
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Plant functional trait change across a warming tundra biome
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 562:7725, s. 57-62
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The tundra is warming more rapidly than any other biome on Earth, and the potential ramifications are far-reaching because of global feedback effects between vegetation and climate. A better understanding of how environmental factors shape plant structure and function is crucial for predicting the consequences of environmental change for ecosystem functioning. Here we explore the biome-wide relationships between temperature, moisture and seven key plant functional traits both across space and over three decades of warming at 117 tundra locations. Spatial temperature–trait relationships were generally strong but soil moisture had a marked influence on the strength and direction of these relationships, highlighting the potentially important influence of changes in water availability on future trait shifts in tundra plant communities. Community height increased with warming across all sites over the past three decades, but other traits lagged far behind predicted rates of change. Our findings highlight the challenge of using space-for-time substitution to predict the functional consequences of future warming and suggest that functions that are tied closely to plant height will experience the most rapid change. They also reveal the strength with which environmental factors shape biotic communities at the coldest extremes of the planet and will help to improve projections of functional changes in tundra ecosystems with climate warming.
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| 3. |
- Bakker, Jan P., et al.
(författare)
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Long-term effects of scrub clearance and litter removal on the re-establishment of dry alvar grassland species
- 2012
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Ingår i: Annales Botanici Fennici. - 0003-3847 .- 1797-2442. ; 49:1-2, s. 21-30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many characteristic dry alvar grassland species disappear after cessation of livestock grazing as a result of encroachment by Juniperus communis. We studied the re-establishment of these species after scrub clearance with and without the removal of the layer of litter and mosses in long-term (14 years) permanent plots. Most of the species belonging to the community species pool of dry alvar grassland species before clearance were found in permanent plots between 2 and 14 years after the clearance. A large part originated from vegetative spread of already occurring species in the established vegetation in the surroundings. Only a small part of the long-term persistent soil seed bank resulted in the re-establishment of alvar species. There was no significant difference in the traits soil seed bank, seed weight and long-distance dispersal by wind, dung or fur of animals of established and non-established species. Removal of litter and mosses positively affected the re-establishment of alvar species.
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| 4. |
- Bakker, Jan P., et al.
(författare)
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Shading results in depletion of the soil seed bank
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nordic Journal of Botany. - : Wiley. - 0107-055X .- 1756-1051. ; 32:5, s. 674-679
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To what extent is the decline of characteristic dry alvar species related to the decline in the soil seed bank during scrub encroachment? We recorded the number of flower stems in the vegetation in relation to light attenuation along an encroachment series progressing from open alvar through small gaps inside dense scrub of Juniperus communis (cover of 60%) to intact dense scrub (cover of 100%) on the island of oland, Sweden. This measurement of potential reproduction (number of flower stems) was then compared to the number of species in the soil seed bank at each site along the alvar encroachment series. Scrub encroachment results in light attenuation between and under the shrubs. The total number of flower stems averaged over all species was similar between gaps and open alvar, but that of alvar species was significantly lower in the gaps, indicating that light attenuation could reduce their seed set. Shading in gaps is related to depletion of the soil seed bank and loss of alvar species, particularly those that do not form a persistent soil seed bank.
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| 5. |
- Dengler, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Ecological Indicator Values for Europe (EIVE) 1.0
- 2023
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Ingår i: Vegetation Classification and Survey. - 2683-0671. ; 4, s. 7-29
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims: To develop a consistent ecological indicator value system for Europe for five of the main plant niche dimensions: soil moisture (M), soil nitrogen (N), soil reaction (R), light (L) and temperature (T). Study area: Europe (and closely adjacent regions). Methods: We identified 31 indicator value systems for vascular plants in Europe that contained assessments on at least one of the five aforementioned niche dimensions. We rescaled the indicator values of each dimension to a continuous scale, in which 0 represents the minimum and 10 the maximum value present in Europe. Taxon names were harmonised to the Euro+Med Plantbase. For each of the five dimensions, we calculated European values for niche position and niche width by combining the values from the individual EIV systems. Using T values as an example, we externally validated our European indicator values against the median of bioclimatic conditions for global occurrence data of the taxa. Results: In total, we derived European indicator values of niche position and niche width for 14,835 taxa (14,714 for M, 13,748 for N, 14,254 for R, 14,054 for L, 14,496 for T). Relating the obtained values for temperature niche position to the bioclimatic data of species yielded a higher correlation than any of the original EIV systems (r = 0.859). The database: The newly developed Ecological Indicator Values for Europe (EIVE) 1.0, together with all source systems, is available in a flexible, harmonised open access database. Conclusions: EIVE is the most comprehensive ecological indicator value system for European vascular plants to date. The uniform interval scales for niche position and niche width provide new possibilities for ecological and macroecological analyses of vegetation patterns. The developed workflow and documentation will facilitate the future release of updated and expanded versions of EIVE, which may for example include the addition of further taxonomic groups, additional niche dimensions, external validation or regionalisation.
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