Extrapolating multi-decadal plant community changes based on medium-term experiments can be risky: evidence from high-latitude tundra

Oikos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Saccone ◽  
Risto Virtanen
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Community Changes

Plant community changes as ecological indicator of seabird colonies’ impacts on Mediterranean Islands

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teddy Baumberger ◽  
Laurence Affre ◽  
Franck Torre ◽  
Eric Vidal ◽  
Pierre-Jean Dumas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Ecological Indicator ◽  
Mediterranean Islands ◽  
Community Changes ◽  
Seabird Colonies

Plant community changes after land abandonment control CO2 balance in a dry environment

2018 ◽  
Vol 425 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 253-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carme Estruch ◽  
Yudi M. Lozano ◽  
Cristina Armas ◽  
Francisco I. Pugnaire
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Land Abandonment ◽  
Co2 Balance ◽  
Community Changes

Influence of maintenance practices on plant community properties interacting with ecosystem functions in an agricultural ditch

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Rudi ◽  
Jean-Stéphane Bailly ◽  
Yves Caraglio ◽  
Jeanne Dollinger ◽  
Fabrice Vinatier
Keyword(s):  
Water Transport ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Plant Community Composition ◽  
Medium Term

<p><span>Maintenance practices restoring the hydraulic capacity of agricultural ditches (mowing, burning, chemical weeding or dredging) modify the plant communities in the short and medium term. However, the medium term modification of plant community composition, parameters and properties, and in turn the associated functions provided by ditches (water transport, propagules and sediment retention, biodiversity conservation) have not attracted much attention so far. Therefore, the main question raised in this study was the following : Do ditch maintenance practices affect plant community composition, parameters, and properties associated with water and particle transport processes (sediments, seeds), as well as biodiversity, in the medium term (two years)?</span></p><p><span>We designed an experiment to compare the effects of different maintenance practices in a Mediterranean agricultural ditch. We measured the plant richness, morphological parameters and properties of the plant community affecting ecosystem functions twice : before applying the maintenance practices and after two years of contrasting maintenance practices. We assessed the differences between practices using linear models and generalized linear models, followed by pairwise comparisons between means using the Tukey test.</span></p><p><span>Maintenance practices differently affected plant community composition, parameters and properties, such as richness, proportions of harmful plants, distribution of heights, densities, proportions of growth forms and total biomass. None of the maintenance strategies simultaneously improved the functions considered. After two years, mowing provided the highest alpha-diversity and had a low proportion of harmful plants. Burning was the practice that produced the highest total biomass and blockage factor, and therefore negatively influenced the water transport. However, this practice positively impacted seed retention and sedimentation. Our results suggest that associations of maintenance practices would preserve the trade-offs among the different functions in the medium term. </span></p><p> </p><p><br><br></p>

A dynamic modelling approach for estimating critical loads of nitrogen based on plant community changes under a changing climate

2011 ◽  
Vol 159 (3) ◽  
pp. 789-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salim Belyazid ◽  
Dani Kurz ◽  
Sabine Braun ◽  
Harald Sverdrup ◽  
Beat Rihm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Critical Loads ◽  
Dynamic Modelling ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Community Changes ◽  
Modelling Approach

scholarly journals Do Invasive Earthworms Affect the Functional Traits of Native Plants?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise Thouvenot ◽  
Olga Ferlian ◽  
Rémy Beugnon ◽  
Tom Künne ◽  
Alfred Lochner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Groups ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
North American ◽  
Native Plants ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Earthworm Invasion ◽  
Invasive Earthworms ◽  
Community Changes

As ecosystem engineers, invasive earthworms are one of the main drivers of plant community changes in North American forests previously devoid of earthworms. One explanation for these community changes is the effects of earthworms on the reproduction, recruitment, and development of plant species. However, few studies have investigated functional trait responses of native plants to earthworm invasion to explain the mechanisms underlying community changes. In a mesocosm (Ecotron) experiment, we set up a plant community composed of two herb and two grass species commonly found in northern North American forests under two earthworm treatments (presence vs. absence). We measured earthworm effects on above- and belowground plant biomass and functional traits after 3 months of experiment. Our results showed that earthworm presence did not significantly affect plant community biomass and cover. Furthermore, only four out of the fifteen above- and belowground traits measured were affected by earthworm presence. While some traits, such as the production of ramets, the carbon and nitrogen content of leaves, responded similarly between and within functional groups in the presence or absence of earthworms, we observed opposite responses for other traits, such as height, specific leaf area, and root length within some functional groups in the presence of earthworms. Plant trait responses were thus species-specific, although the two grass species showed a more pronounced response to earthworm presence with changes in their leaf traits than herb species. Overall, earthworms affected some functional traits related to resource uptake abilities of plants and thus could change plant competition outcomes over time, which could be an explanation of plant community changes observed in invaded ecosystems.

scholarly journals Sahul's megafauna were vulnerable to plant‐community changes due to their position in the trophic network

Ecography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Llewelyn ◽  
Giovanni Strona ◽  
Matthew C. McDowell ◽  
Christopher N. Johnson ◽  
Katharina J. Peters ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Community ◽  
Trophic Network ◽  
Community Changes
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