Effects of chaining and burning in Acacia ramulosa shrublands of the Peron Peninsula, Shark Bay, Western Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce G. Ward ◽  
Thomas B. Bragg ◽  
Barbara A. Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Western Australia ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
High Rainfall ◽  
Shark Bay ◽  
Untreated Area ◽  
Burnt Areas

We tested the effect of chained and burnt buffers installed across the Peron Peninsula at Shark Bay, Western Australia, in 1995 on the plant communities. Chaining modified fuel by flattening shrubs to provide a more continuous fuel bed by adding vertically arranged shrub fuel to the in situ sparse ground fuels. Twenty-six, 10 × 10-m permanent plots were established in the treated buffers and adjacent untreated shrubland. Plots were evaluated in 1996, 2001 and 2008. By 1996, fire and chaining had promoted a suite of species that included 29 not observed in adjacent untreated shrubland. High rainfall before the 2001 assessment produced an increase in species richness in both burnt and unburnt treatments. By 2008, 20 of the 29 fire-promoted species were found in the untreated area after rainfall leaving nine species uniquely responsive to the fire and chaining treatment. The Acacia ramulosa W.Fitzg. sandplain communities in our study area appear to be sustained by high rainfall years promoting regeneration of 84% of species with a smaller proportion (16%) regenerated only in burnt areas. The dominance of periodic rainfall in promoting regeneration led to the likely reduced effectiveness of the fire buffers in preventing the spread of fire. There is the potential for extensive fires in this landscape following favourable rainfall.

scholarly journals How do plant communities and flower visitors relate? A case study of semi-natural xerothermic grasslands

2013 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damian Chmura ◽  
Paweł Adamski ◽  
Zygmunt Denisiuk
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Detrended Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Moisture Index ◽  
Rarefaction Analysis ◽  
Flower Visitors

<p>The paper examines the relationships between the species composition of flower visitors and plants in the semi-natural xerothermic grasslands in southern and central Poland. Thirty 10 × 10 m permanent plots were laid out in total, mainly in nature reserves. The vegetation units studied were classified according to the Braun-Blanquet system; these were phytocoenoses of the <em>Festuco-Brometea</em> classes <em>Inuletum ensifoliae</em>, <em>Adonido-Brachypodietum pinnati</em> and the transitional plant community. Entomological research was performed using the Pollard method within the same plots. A particular site was visited only once and different sites were studied between April and August 2008. We applied, among others, co-correspondence-analysis Co-CA, detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and redundancy analysis (RDA) to investigate the co-occurrence patterns of plants and flower visitors and their biotopic requirements. We found that the species composition of flower visitors cannot be predicted by floristic composition when the duration of the study is restricted to one day (but under similar weather conditions); however, there is a positive relationship between the species richness of insects and plants and a positive relationship between the number of plant species and the abundance of flower visitors. The Ellenberg moisture index and the cover of meadow species significantly explained the species composition of insects. The three various vegetation units and five dominant xerothermic species, i.e. <em>Adonis vernalis</em>, <em>Anemone sylvestris</em>, <em>Inula ensifolia</em>, <em>Linum hirsutum</em> and <em>Carlina onopordifolia</em> that were studied across time differed in the species richness of insects. Our results demonstrate that possible patterns in the species composition and the assembly rules of flower visitors are not apparent when the Pollard method is applied. Based on the data obtained using this method, the flower visiting assemblages seem not to be driven by competition and they primarily show a tendency to co-occur which can be an artifact. A plant-focused method that included a rarefaction analysis yielded more insightful results and shed more light on the differences between the dominant plants that shape the physiognomy of plant communities in a possible pollination specialization.</p>

scholarly journals Mikroskopijne grzyby pasożytnicze w zbiorowiskach roślinnych Wyżyny Częstochowskiej [Phytoparasitic micromycetes in plant communities of the Wyżyna Częstochowska Upland]

2015 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 1-144
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Ruszkiewicz-Michalska
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Anamorphic Fungi ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Biotic Factors ◽  
Beech Forests

Mycosociological studies on microfungi parasitising vascular plants were carried out on 21 permanent observation plots in 5 phytocoenoses representing beech forests (<em>Luzulo pilosae-Fagetum</em>, <em>Melico-Fagetum</em>, <em>Dentario enneaphyllidis-Fagetum</em>,  <em>Carici-Fagetum</em>)  and  xerothermic  grassland  (<em>Origano-Brachypodietum  pinnati</em>)  as  well as using route  method in other  plant communities.  The frequency  of host  plants and fungi  occurring on  permanent plots was estimated using 5-degree scale. The observations yielded in 478 fungal species belonging to <em>Peronosporales </em>(<em>Oomycota</em>), <em>Dothideales</em>, <em>Erysiphales</em>, <em>Helotiales</em>, <em>Hypocreales</em>, <em>Mycosphaerellales</em>, <em>Phyllachorales</em>, <em>Pleosporales</em>, <em>Xylariales </em>(<em>Ascomycota</em>), <em>Uredinales</em>, <em>Microbotryales</em>, <em>Urocystales </em>(<em>Basidiomycota</em>) and <em>Hyphomycetes </em>and <em>Coelomycetes </em>(anamorphic fungi), which were hosted by 301 species of vascular plants as well as by 19 taxa of <em>Erysiphales </em>and <em>Uredinales</em>. The predominanting group was anamorphic fungi (65% of species), especially members of <em>Sphaeropsidales </em>(39%). This group was however less dispersed on the study area than <em>Uredinales </em>and <em>Erysiphales</em>, which were represented by relatively small number of species. The results provided data on diversi- fied occurrence of fungi depending on abiotic (humidity, temperature, insolation) and biotic factors (e.g. density of host plant population) provided by plant communities. The differences concern species composition and richness of fungi, their distribution as well as frequency of hosts and parasites. In the case of members of <em>Erysiphales</em>, <em>Moniliales </em>and <em>Peronosporales </em>differences in phenology were also noted. The greatest species richness and distribution of the micromycetes was observed in <em>Origano-Brachypodietum </em>and the poorest were plots of <em>Luzulo pilosae-Fagetum</em>. Most frequently the parasites infected small percentage of the individuals in the population of the hosts (about 1%), which occurred with the lowest coverage (below 10%). This type of relationship between frequency of fungi and density of plants dominated in all of the studied phytocenoses. Sixty two species of fungi observed on Wyżyna Częstochowska Upland are new for Polish biota. They belong to anamorphic fungi, mainly to <em>Phyllosticta </em>(32 species) and <em>Ascochyta </em>(15).

scholarly journals Disentangling the Ecological Determinants of Species and Functional Trait Diversity in Herb-Layer Plant Communities in European Temperate Forests

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 552
Author(s):  
Janez Kermavnar ◽  
Lado Kutnar ◽  
Aleksander Marinšek
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Composition ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Functional Trait ◽  
Forest Stand ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Herb Layer ◽  
Bud Bank ◽  
Tree Species Composition ◽  
Stand Characteristics

Forest herb-layer vegetation responds sensitively to environmental conditions. This paper compares drivers of both taxonomic, i.e., species richness, cover and evenness, and functional herb-layer diversity, i.e., the diversity of clonal, bud bank and leaf-height-seed plant traits. We investigated the dependence of herb-layer diversity on ecological determinants related to soil properties, climatic parameters, forest stand characteristics, and topographic and abiotic and biotic factors associated with forest floor structure. The study was conducted in different forest types in Slovenia, using vegetation and environmental data from 50 monitoring plots (400 m2 each) belonging to the ICP Forests Level I and II network. The main objective was to first identify significant ecological predictors and then quantify their relative importance. Species richness was strongly determined by forest stand characteristics, such as richness of the shrub layer, tree layer shade-casting ability as a proxy for light availability and tree species composition. It showed a clear positive relation to soil pH. Variation in herb-layer cover was also best explained by forest stand characteristics and, to a lesser extent, by structural factors such as moss cover. Species evenness was associated with tree species composition, shrub layer cover and soil pH. Various ecological determinants were decisive for the diversity of below-ground traits, i.e., clonal and bud bank traits. For these two trait groups we observed a substantial climatic signal that was completely absent for taxonomy-based measures of diversity. In contrast, above-ground leaf-height-seed (LHS) traits were driven exclusively by soil reaction and nitrogen availability. In synthesis, local stand characteristics and soil properties acted as the main controlling factors for both species and trait diversity in herb-layer communities across Slovenia, confirming many previous studies. Our findings suggest that the taxonomic and functional facets of herb-layer vegetation are mainly influenced by a similar set of ecological determinants. However, their relative importance varies among individual taxonomy- and functional trait-based diversity measures. Integrating multi-faceted approaches can provide complementary information on patterns of herb-layer diversity in European forest plant communities.

Integration of Cretaceous Morro do Chaves rock properties (NE Brazil) with the Holocene Hamelin Coquina architecture (Shark Bay, Western Australia) to model effective permeability

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick W. M. Corbett ◽  
Rayana Estrella ◽  
Andrea Morales Rodriguez ◽  
Ahmed Shoeir ◽  
Leonardo Borghi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Effective Permeability ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Shark Bay
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