Response of boreal plant communities to variations in previous fire-free interval

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill F. Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Populus Tremuloides ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Deciduous Species ◽  
Community Patterns ◽  
Free Interval ◽  
Species Cover

The present study used overlapping burn scars from natural wildfires to examine the effects of changes in the fire-free interval on early successional plant communities in boreal forests of central Yukon Territory, Canada. Data on plant community composition and residual organic material were collected in the first decade of post-fire regeneration in two study areas with recent fire overlap. Sites with a shorter fire-free interval had reduced loads of deadwood and shallower organic layers after the most recent fire. Multivariate analysis of species cover indicated that sites in and out of the burn overlap zones also supported distinct plant communities. Differences in the plant communities were associated with a greater abundance of woody deciduous species, such as Populus tremuloides, Salix spp., and Shepherdia canadensis, at sites that had recently re-burned. Sites that burned after a longer interval had higher moss cover and greater abundance of Picea mariana, Calamagrostis canadensis, and Ribes glandulosum in one study area, and Epilobium angustifolium in the second area. Ordinations of species cover indicated that plant community patterns were most strongly associated with gradients related to fire history and topography. In general, shorter fire-free intervals reduced pools of residual plant material and favored dominance of resprouting, woody deciduous species.

Overstory influences on light attenuation patterns and understory plant community diversity and composition in southern boreal forests of Quebec

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (9) ◽  
pp. 2065-2079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Bartemucci ◽  
Christian Messier ◽  
Charles D Canham
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Light Transmission ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Light Attenuation ◽  
Understory Vegetation ◽  
Light Levels ◽  
Understory Plant

We have characterized overstory light transmission, understory light levels, and plant communities in mixed wood boreal forests of northwestern Quebec with the objective of understanding how overstory light transmission interacts with composition and time since disturbance to influence the diversity and composition of understory vegetation, and, in turn, the further attenuation of light to the forest floor by the understory. Overstory light transmission differed among three forest types (aspen, mixed deciduous–conifer, and old cedar-dominated), with old forests having higher proportions of high light levels than aspen and mixed forests, which were characterized by intermediate light levels. The composition of the understory plant communities in old forests showed the weakest correlation to overstory light transmission, although those forests had the largest range of light transmission. The strongest correlation between characteristics of overstory light transmission and understory communities was found in aspen forests. Species diversity indices were consistently higher in aspen forests but showed weak relationships with overstory light transmission. Light attenuation by the understory vegetation and total height of the understory vegetation were strongly and positively related to overstory light transmission but not forest type. Therefore, light transmission through the overstory influenced the structure and function of understory plants more than their diversity and composition. This is likely due to the strong effect of the upper understory layers, which tend to homogenize light levels at the forest floor regardless of forest type. The understory plant community acts as a filter, thereby reducing light levels at the forest floor to uniformly low levels.

scholarly journals Exploring Life Forms for Linking Orthopteran Assemblage and Grassland Plant Community

Hacquetia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocco Labadessa ◽  
Luigi Forte ◽  
Paola Mairota
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Relative Proportion ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Community Patterns ◽  
Plant Life Forms ◽  
Grassland Conservation ◽  
Biodiversity Changes

AbstractOrthopterans are well known to represent the majority of insect biomass in many grassland ecosystems. However, the verification of a relationship between the traditional descriptors of orthopteran assemblage structure and plant community patterns is not straightforward. We explore the usefulness of the concept of life forms to provide insights on such ecosystem level relationship. For this purpose, thirty sample sites in semi-natural calcareous grasslands were classified according to the relative proportion of dominant herbaceous plant life forms. Orthopteran species were grouped in four categories, based on the Bei-Bienko’s life form categorization. The association among plant communities, orthopteran assemblages and environmental factors was tested by means of canonical correspondence analysis. Orthoptera groups were found to be associated with distinct plant communities, also indicating the effect of vegetation change on orthopteran assemblages. In particular, geobionta species were associated with all the most disturbed plant communities, while chortobionta and thamnobionta seemed to be dependent on better preserved grassland types. Therefore, the use of life forms could help informing on the relationships of orthopteran assemblages with grassland conservation state. Information on such community relationships at the local scale could also assist managers in the interpretation of habitat change maps in terms of biodiversity changes.

Cascading Impacts of Seed Disperser Loss on Plant Communities and Ecosystems

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haldre S. Rogers ◽  
Isabel Donoso ◽  
Anna Traveset ◽  
Evan C. Fricke
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Plant Populations ◽  
Community Patterns

Seed dispersal is key to the persistence and spread of plant populations. Because the majority of plant species rely on animals to disperse their seeds, global change drivers that directly affect animals can cause cascading impacts on plant communities. In this review, we synthesize studies assessing how disperser loss alters plant populations, community patterns, multitrophic interactions, and ecosystem functioning. We argue that the magnitude of risk to plants from disperser loss is shaped by the combination of a plant species’ inherent dependence on seed dispersers and the severity of the hazards faced by their dispersers. Because the factors determining a plant species’ risk of decline due to disperser loss can be related to traits of the plants and dispersers, our framework enables a trait-based understanding of change in plant community composition and ecosystem functioning. We discuss how interactions among plants, among dispersers, and across other trophic levels also mediate plant community responses, and we identify areas for future research to understand and mitigate the consequences of disperser loss on plants globally. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, Volume 52 is November 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Natural dynamics-based silviculture for maintaining plant biodiversity in Populus tremuloides-dominated boreal forests of eastern CanadaThis article is one of a selection of papers published in the Special Issue on Poplar Research in Canada.

2007 ◽  
Vol 85 (12) ◽  
pp. 1158-1170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sybille Haeussler ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Suzanne Brais ◽  
Brian D. Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Populus Tremuloides ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
Experimental Stand ◽  
Tree Retention ◽  
Tall Shrub ◽  
Natural Dynamics

Southern boreal forests dominated by trembling aspen ( Populus tremuloides Michx.) are notable for the biological richness of their plant communities. We used 12 plant community and plant functional group indicators to test the hypothesis that natural dynamics-based silvicultural systems better maintain biodiversity in aspen plant communities than conventional clear-cutting. Using CA ordination, box-and-whisker diagrams, and ANOVA, we compared the range of variability of our 12 bioindicators among five experimental stand types of the sylviculture et aménagement forestier écosystémiques (SAFE) project: mature (78 years) uncut; mature 1/3 partial-cut; mature 2/3 partial-cut; young (3 years) unburned clear-cut; young burned clear-cut; and three closely matched aspen stand types of northwest Quebec and northeast Ontario: old (105 years) uncut; young unburned clear-cut; young wildfire. Burned clearcuts partially emulated wildfires by reducing tall shrub abundance and regenerating post-fire specialists, but snags were lacking. The dual disturbance also retarded aspen regrowth and caused a 7-fold increase in non-native plants. Partial-cuts retained most attributes of mature uncut stands, but after 3 years showed little evidence of accelerating development of old stand characteristics. We concluded that SAFE natural dynamics-based silviculture better recreated the range of variability of naturally disturbed aspen plant communities than conventional clear-cutting. Improvements, including alternative burn prescriptions and snag or green tree retention in clearcuts, are nontheless warranted.

Temporal dynamics of mycorrhizal fungal communities and co-associations with grassland plant communities following experimental manipulation of rainfall

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Coline Deveautour ◽  
Sally Power ◽  
Kirk Barnett ◽  
Raul Ochoa-Hueso ◽  
Suzanne Donn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Fungal Community ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Fungal Communities ◽  
Plant Responses ◽  
Rainfall Regimes

Climate models project overall a reduction in rainfall amounts and shifts in the timing of rainfall events in mid-latitudes and sub-tropical dry regions, which threatens the productivity and diversity of grasslands. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may help plants to cope with expected changes but may also be impacted by changing rainfall, either via the direct effects of low soil moisture on survival and function or indirectly via changes in the plant community. In an Australian mesic grassland (former pasture) system, we characterised plant and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities every six months for nearly four years to two altered rainfall regimes: i) ambient, ii) rainfall reduced by 50% relative to ambient over the entire year and iii) total summer rainfall exclusion. Using Illumina sequencing, we assessed the response of AM fungal communities sampled from contrasting rainfall treatments and evaluated whether variation in AM fungal communities was associated with variation in plant community richness and composition. We found that rainfall reduction influenced the fungal communities, with the nature of the response depending on the type of manipulation, but that consistent results were only observed after more than two years of rainfall manipulation. We observed significant co-associations between plant and AM fungal communities on multiple dates. Predictive co-correspondence analyses indicated more support for the hypothesis that fungal community composition influenced plant community composition than vice versa. However, we found no evidence that altered rainfall regimes were leading to distinct co-associations between plants and AM fungi. Overall, our results provide evidence that grassland plant communities are intricately tied to variation in AM fungal communities. However, in this system, plant responses to climate change may not be directly related to impacts of altered rainfall regimes on AM fungal communities. Our study shows that AM fungal communities respond to changes in rainfall but that this effect was not immediate. The AM fungal community may influence the composition of the plant community. However, our results suggest that plant responses to altered rainfall regimes at our site may not be resulting via changes in the AM fungal communities.

Classification of woody-shrub vegetation of the forest-steppe complex of Privolzhskaya Upland

2009 ◽  
pp. 27-53
Author(s):  
A. Yu. Kudryavtsev
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Dominant Species ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Vegetation Mapping ◽  
Vegetation Classification ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Mapping Data

Diversity of plant communities in the nature reserve “Privolzhskaya Forest-Steppe”, Ostrovtsovsky area, is analyzed on the basis of the large-scale vegetation mapping data from 2000. The plant community classi­fication based on the Russian ecologic-phytocoenotic approach is carried out. 12 plant formations and 21 associations are distinguished according to dominant species and a combination of ecologic-phytocoenotic groups of species. A list of vegetation classification units as well as the characteristics of theshrub and woody communities are given in this paper.

scholarly journals Responses and Indicators of Composition, Diversity, and Productivity of Plant Communities at Different Levels of Disturbance in a Wetland Ecosystem

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 252
Author(s):  
Tingting Duan ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Zhengjun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Leisure Activity ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Diversity Indices ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Grazing Tolerance ◽  
Organic Matter Concentration ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Different Levels

Grassland tourism is a very popular leisure activity in many parts of the world. However, the presence of people in these areas causes disturbance to the local environment and grassland resources. This study analyzes the composition, diversity, and productivity under different levels of disturbance of the plant communities in the Kangxi Grassland Tourist Area and the Yeyahu Wetland Nature Reserve of Beijing, China. It aims to identify indicators of plant communities and their responses to different levels of disturbance. Our analysis shows that the plant community density and coverage have a certain compensatory increase under disturbed conditions. With the increase in disturbances, more drought-tolerant species have appeared (increased by 5.7%), some of which have become the grazing-tolerance indicator species in the trampled grazed area (TGA). For plant community productivity, biomass and height are good indicators for distinguishing different disturbances (p < 0.05). In addition, several diversity indices reveal the change of plant communities from different perspectives (three of the four indices were significant at the p < 0.05 level). For soil parameters, soil water content and organic matter concentration help to indicate different disturbance levels (the former has a 64% change). Moreover, the standard deviation of the plant community and soil parameters is also a good indicator of their spatial variability and disturbance levels, especially for the TGA. Our analysis confirms that the indicators of productivity, diversity, and soil parameters can indicate the disturbance level in each subarea from different perspectives. However, under disturbed conditions, a comprehensive analysis of these indicators is needed before we can accurately understand the state of health of the plant community.

scholarly journals Shifts in soil and plant functional diversity along an altitudinal gradient in the French Alps

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Stokes ◽  
Guillermo Angeles ◽  
Fabien Anthelme ◽  
Eduardo Aranda-Delgado ◽  
Isabelle Barois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Biophysical Properties ◽  
Tropical Zone ◽  
Soil Microbial

Abstract Objectives Altitude integrates changes in environmental conditions that determine shifts in vegetation, including temperature, precipitation, solar radiation and edaphogenetic processes. In turn, vegetation alters soil biophysical properties through litter input, root growth, microbial and macrofaunal interactions. The belowground traits of plant communities modify soil processes in different ways, but it is not known how root traits influence soil biota at the community level. We collected data to investigate how elevation affects belowground community traits and soil microbial and faunal communities. This dataset comprises data from a temperate climate in France and a twin study was performed in a tropical zone in Mexico. Data description The paper describes soil physical and chemical properties, climatic variables, plant community composition and species abundance, plant community traits, soil microbial functional diversity and macrofaunal abundance and diversity. Data are provided for six elevations (1400–2400 m) ranging from montane forest to alpine prairie. We focused on soil biophysical properties beneath three dominant plant species that structure local vegetation. These data are useful for understanding how shifts in vegetation communities affect belowground processes, such as water infiltration, soil aggregation and carbon storage. Data will also help researchers understand how plant communities adjust to a changing climate/environment.

Study on Construction of Close-to-Nature Man-Made Plant Landscape Based on Natural Plant Communities: the Case of West Lake Scenic Area in Hangzhou

2012 ◽  
Vol 468-471 ◽  
pp. 2764-2770
Author(s):  
Shan Lu ◽  
Bo Chen ◽  
Shao Qing Hu ◽  
Jing Jing Zhang ◽  
Jun Hao Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vegetation Composition ◽  
Natural Community ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Natural Plant ◽  
West Lake ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Landscape Plant

Urban close-to-nature plant community is a sustainable design and construction philosophy of landscape greenbelt planning. However, there is no explicit guide for constructing close-to-nature plant community Based on the analysis of community structure and characteristics of 10 typical natural plant communities in the West Lake Scenic Area in Hangzhou and summary of the features of natural community, as well as the analysis of plant landscape of Hangzhou Huagangguanyu Park to prove that the close-to-nature man-made plant community and natural plant community are interrelated in respect of vegetation composition and community structure, this paper puts forward to the essential construction methods of the close-to-nature landscape community, providing theoretical basis for research and construction of urban close-to-nature landscape plant community in China.

scholarly journals Phytosociological surveys: tools for weed science?

2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 469-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Concenço ◽  
M. Tomazi ◽  
I.V.T. Correia ◽  
S.A. Santos ◽  
L. Galon
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Distinct Group ◽  
Weed Science ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Ecological Evaluation ◽  
Natural Plant ◽  
Ecological Basis

In simple terms, a phytosociological survey is a group of ecological evaluation methods whose aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of both the composition and distribution of plant species in a given plant community. To understand the applicability of phytosociological surveys for weed science, as well as their validity, their ecological basis should be understood and the most suitable ones need to be chosen, because cultivated fields present a relatively distinct group of selecting factors when compared to natural plant communities. For weed science, the following sequence of steps is proposed as the most suitable: (1) overall infestation; (2) phytosociological tables/graphs; (3) intra-characterization by diversity; (4) inter-characterization and grouping by cluster analysis. A summary of methods is established in order to assist Weed Science researchers through their steps into the realm of phytosociology.

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