scholarly journals Physiological and Regenerative Plant Traits Explain Vegetation Regeneration under Different Severity Levels in Mediterranean Fire-Prone Ecosystems

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Sara Huerta ◽  
Víctor Fernández-García ◽  
Elena Marcos ◽  
Susana Suárez-Seoane ◽  
Leonor Calvo
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Specific Leaf Area ◽  
Vegetation Cover ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Plant Functional Traits ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Severity Levels ◽  
Vegetation Regeneration

In Mediterranean fire-prone ecosystems, plant functional traits and burn severity have decisive roles in post-fire vegetation recovery. These traits may reflect plant fitness to fire regimes in the Mediterranean Basin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of burn severity on post-fire vegetation regeneration through plant functional (physiological and regenerative) traits in two Mediterranean ecosystems: one more humid and colder (Cabrera in León province, NW Spain), and another characterized by a longer summer drought (Gátova in Valencia province, SE Spain). A total of 384 and 80 field plots (2 m × 2 m) were fixed in Cabrera and Gátova, respectively. In each burned plot, we quantified burn severity by means of the composite burn index (CBI), differentiating three severity levels (low, moderate, and high), and evaluated post-fire vegetation regeneration one and two years after wildfires. We measured the percentage cover of each species and classified them according to physiological (specific leaf area and N2-fixing capacity) and regenerative traits (reproductive strategy, bud bank location, and heat-stimulated germination). The main results showed that in Cabrera, burn severity had significant effects on vegetation cover independently of plant functional traits. In Gátova, burn severity effects differed among functional traits. In this site, the cover of plants with low specific leaf area and without heat-stimulation and N2-fixing capacity was negatively related to burn severity. On the contrary, the cover of N2-fixers and species with resprouting ability and heat-stimulated germination rose with increasing burn severity. In general, vegetation cover showed a more pronounced increased over time in the more humid area, mainly under the effect of high severity. The results of this research highlighted the importance of the use of plant functional traits as a driver to understand the response of different ecosystems to current fire regimes, which could be relevant for pre- and post-fire management.

scholarly journals Variation Patterns of Functional Trait Moments Along Geographical Gradients and Their Environmental Determinants in the Subtropical Evergreen Broadleaved Forests

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caishuang Huang ◽  
Yue Xu ◽  
Runguo Zang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Specific Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Trait ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen ◽  
Subtropical Region ◽  
Mean Variance ◽  
Nitrogen Phosphorus ◽  
Skewness And Kurtosis

Understanding how environmental change alters the composition of plant assemblages is a major challenge in the face of global climate change. Researches accounting for site-specific trait values within forest communities help bridge plant economics theory and functional biogeography to better evaluate and predict relationships between environment and ecosystem functioning. Here, by measuring six functional traits (specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen, and phosphorus concentration, leaf nitrogen/phosphorus, wood density) for 292 woody plant species (48,680 individuals) from 250 established permanent forest dynamics plots in five locations across the subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests (SEBLF) in China, we quantified functional compositions of communities by calculating four trait moments, i.e., community-weighted mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis. The geographical (latitudinal, longitudinal, and elevational) patterns of functional trait moments and their environmental drivers were examined. Results showed that functional trait moments shifted significantly along the geographical gradients, and trait moments varied in different ways across different gradients. Plants generally showed coordinated trait shifts toward more conservative growth strategies (lower specific leaf area, leaf N and P concentration while higher leaf nitrogen/phosphorus and wood density) along increasing latitude and longitude. However, trends opposite to the latitudinal and longitudinal patterns appeared in trait mean values along elevation. The three sets of environmental variables (climate, soil and topography) explained 35.0–69.0%, 21.0–56.0%, 14.0–31.0%, and 16.0–30.0% of the variations in mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis across the six functional traits, respectively. Patterns of shifts in functional trait moments along geographical gradients in the subtropical region were mainly determined by the joint effects of climatic and edaphic conditions. Climate regimes, especially climate variability, were the strongest driving force, followed by soil nutrients, while topography played the least role. Moreover, the relationship of variance, skewness and kurtosis with climate and their geographical patterns suggested that rare phenotypes at edges of trait space were selected in harsher environments. Our study suggested that environmental filtering (especially climate variability) was the dominant process of functional assembly for forest communities in the subtropical region along geographical gradients.

scholarly journals Plant functional traits are correlated with species persistence in the herb layer of old-growth beech forests

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giandiego Campetella ◽  
Stefano Chelli ◽  
Enrico Simonetti ◽  
Claudia Damiani ◽  
Sandor Bartha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Resource Use ◽  
Seed Mass ◽  
Plant Functional Traits ◽  
Summer Drought ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Herb Layer ◽  
Beech Forests ◽  
Old Growth ◽  
Species Persistence

Abstract This paper explores which traits are correlated with fine-scale (0.25 m2) species persistence patterns in the herb layer of old-growth forests. Four old-growth beech forests representing different climatic contexts (presence or absence of summer drought period) were selected along a north–south gradient in Italy. Eight surveys were conducted in each of the sites during the period spanning 1999–2011. We found that fine-scale species persistence was correlated with different sets of plant functional traits, depending on local ecological context. Seed mass was found to be as important for the fine-scale species persistence in the northern sites, while clonal and bud-bank traits were markedly correlated with the southern sites characterised by summer drought. Leaf traits appeared to correlate with species persistence in the drier and wetter sites. However, we found that different attributes, i.e. helomorphic vs scleromorphic leaves, were correlated to species persistence in the northernmost and southernmost sites, respectively. These differences appear to be dependent on local trait adaptation rather than plant phylogenetic history. Our findings suggest that the persistent species in the old-growth forests might adopt an acquisitive resource-use strategy (i.e. helomorphic leaves with high SLA) with higher seed mass in sites without summer drought, while under water-stressed conditions persistent species have a conservative resource-use strategy (i.e. scleromorphic leaves with low SLA) with an increased importance of clonal and resprouting ability.

scholarly journals Resource colimitation governs plant community responses to altered precipitation

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (42) ◽  
pp. 13009-13014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anu Eskelinen ◽  
Susan P. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Specific Leaf Area ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Resource Limitation ◽  
Tall Stature ◽  
Multiple Resource

Ecological theory and evidence suggest that plant community biomass and composition may often be jointly controlled by climatic water availability and soil nutrient supply. To the extent that such colimitation operates, alterations in water availability caused by climatic change may have relatively little effect on plant communities on nutrient-poor soils. We tested this prediction with a 5-y rainfall and nutrient manipulation in a semiarid annual grassland system with highly heterogeneous soil nutrient supplies. On nutrient-poor soils, rainfall addition alone had little impact, but rainfall and nutrient addition synergized to cause large increases in biomass, declines in diversity, and near-complete species turnover. Plant species with resource-conservative functional traits (low specific leaf area, short stature) were replaced by species with resource-acquisitive functional traits (high specific leaf area, tall stature). On nutrient-rich soils, in contrast, rainfall addition alone caused substantial increases in biomass, whereas fertilization had little effect. Our results highlight that multiple resource limitation is a critical aspect when predicting the relative vulnerability of natural communities to climatically induced compositional change and diversity loss.

Species abundance is jointly determined by functional traits and negative density dependence in a subtropical forest in southern China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weitao Wang ◽  
Yun Jiang ◽  
Buhang Li ◽  
Nianxun Xi ◽  
Yongfa Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Density Dependence ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Plant Functional Traits ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Negative Density Dependence

Abstract Aims The factors affecting species abundance are a subject of ongoing debates in community ecology. Empirical studies have demonstrated that tree abundance is affected by plant functional traits and negative density dependence (NDD). However, few studies have focused on the combined effects of negative density dependence and plant functional traits on species abundance. Methods In this study, we used tree functional traits and two census data from a 50-ha forest dynamic plot in the Heishiding (HSD) Nature Reserve to explore the combined effects of functional traits and NDD on species abundance. Using hierarchical Bayesian models, we analyzed how neighbor densities affected the survival of saplings from 130 species and extracted posterior means of the coefficients to represent NDD. The structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was then applied to investigate the causal relationships among species functional traits, negative density dependence, and species abundance. Important findings SEM showed that tree functional traits, including specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area (LA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf N content (LNC), maximum electron transport rate (ETRmax), and conspecific adult negative density dependence (CNDDadult), together explained 20% of the total variation in tree abundance. Specifically, SLA affected tree abundance both directly and indirectly via CNDDadult, with a totally negative influence on abundance. LDMC and LNC had only indirect effects mediated by CNDDadult on tree abundance. ETRmax and LA had directly negative effects on abundance, but their direct connections with CNDDadult were not observed. In addition, CNDDadult was negatively correlated with species abundance, indicating that abundant species are under stronger negative density dependence. Among these investigated traits, SLA contributed the most to the variation in CNDDadult and abundance. We argued that our findings of trait-CNDDadult-abundance relationships can improve our understanding of the determinants of species commonness and rarity in forests.

scholarly journals How Does Nitrogen Application Rate Affect Plant Functional Traits and Crop Growth Rate of Perennial Ryegrass-Dominated Permanent Pastures?

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2499
Author(s):  
Tammo Peters ◽  
Friedhelm Taube ◽  
Christof Kluß ◽  
Thorsten Reinsch ◽  
Ralf Loges ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Perennial Ryegrass ◽  
N Uptake ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Plant Functional Traits ◽  
N Application ◽  
Crop Growth Rate ◽  
N Application Rate

High doses of nitrogen (N) fertiliser input on permanent pastures are crucial in terms of N surplus and N losses. Quantitative analyses of the response of plant functional traits (PFT) driving crop growth rate (CGR) under low N input are lacking in frequently defoliated pastures. This study aimed to understand the significance of PFTs for productivity and N uptake in permanent grasslands by measuring dynamics in tiller density (TD), tiller weight (TW), leaf weight ratio (LWR), leaf area index (LAI), specific leaf area (SLA), as well as leaf N content per unit mass (LNCm) and per unit area (LNCa) in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne)-dominated pastures, in a simulated rotational grazing approach over two consecutive growing seasons. Annual N application rates were 0, 140 and 280 kg N ha−1. The phenological development of perennial ryegrass was the main driver of CGR, N uptake and most PFTs. The effect of N application rate on PFTs varied during the season. N application rate showed the greatest effect on TD, LAI and, to a lesser extent, on SLA and LNCm. The results of this study highlight the importance of TD and its role in driving CGR and N uptake in frequently defoliated permanent pastures.

scholarly journals Precipitation Variability Affects Aboveground Biomass Directly and Indirectly via Plant Functional Traits in the Desert Steppe of Inner Mongolia, Northern China

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Cheng ◽  
Yuanbo Gong ◽  
Xiaoan Zuo
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Aboveground Biomass ◽  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Structural Equation Models ◽  
Plant Functional Traits ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen Content ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Desert Steppe ◽  
Precipitation Changes

Clarifying the response of community and dominance species to climate change is crucial for disentangling the mechanism of the ecosystem evolution and predicting the prospective dynamics of communities under the global climate scenario. We examined how precipitation changes affect community structure and aboveground biomass (AGB) according to manipulated precipitation experiments in the desert steppe of Inner Mongolia, China. Bayesian model and structural equation models (SEM) were used to test variation and causal relationship among precipitation, plant diversity, functional attributes, and AGB. The results showed that the responses of species richness, evenness, and plant community weighted means traits to precipitation changes in amount and year were significant. The SEM demonstrated that precipitation change in amount and year has a direct effect on richness, evenness, and community-weighted mean (CWM) for height, leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf nitrogen content (LNC), and leaf carbon content (LCC) and AGB; there into CWM for height and LDMC had a direct positive effect on AGB; LA had a direct negative effect on AGB. Three dominant species showed diverse adaptation and resource utilization strategies in response to precipitation changes. A. polyrhizum showed an increase in height under the precipitation treatments that promoted AGB, whereas the AGB of P. harmala and S. glareosa was boosted through alterations in height and LA. Our results highlight the asynchronism of variation in community composition and structure, leaf functional traits in precipitation-AGB relationship. We proposed that altered AGB resulted from the direct and indirect effects of plant functional traits (plant height, LA, LDMC) rather than species diversity, plant functional traits are likely candidate traits, given that they are mechanistically linked to precipitation changes and affected aboveground biomass in a desert steppe.

scholarly journals Functional Traits and Adaptation Mechanisms of Eucalyptus Species in the Congo

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrissy Garel Makouanzi Ekomono ◽  
Castella bath Shéba Vitel Loubassou ◽  
Mavie Parfait Mbama ◽  
Grace Jopaul Loubota Panzou ◽  
Philippe Vigneron
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Specific Leaf Area ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Eucalyptus Species ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Provenance Test ◽  
Pointe Noire

Abstract Background: Adaptation is not only effective by considering the survival of plants, but also by taking into account the traits that support adaptation to environmental changing. Local adaptation occurs because different environmental factors impose different selective pressures across habitats. Understanding the ecophysiological mechanisms underlying survival and growth in plants is crucial for establishing the reasons trade-offs are associated with adaptation.Methods: A comparison provenance test of 29 species of Eucalyptus were used to understand the adaptation strategies on the coastal plains of Pointe-Noire, in the Republic of the Congo. Survival, growth traits and leaves functional traits was jointly measured. Climatic traits of the species origin areas were also studied. Cluster analysis was performed to group species according to their growth strategy.Results: The results suggest that species would be able to survive under current environmental change by adjusting their specific leaf area plasticity. The cluster analysis suggests a subdivision of the 29 species into four groups. The first cluster brings together E.pilularis and E.peltata, with the lowest growth and the lowest specific leaf area. This cluster contains two species totally unsuited to the local conditions of Pointe-Noire. The second cluster contains species with a wide variety of responses as to their growth strategy, and are able to adapt to the local conditions. The third cluster includes a species are specialized in acquiring high proportions of resources while investing very little in growth. The fourth cluster groups the species with a very slow strategy of acquiring and using resources. Leaf anatomy is quite responsive to climatic conditions. Conclusion: By evaluating all aspects of strategies, Eucalyptus species have shown great variation in their functionnal traits and this may explains their diverse ecological range.

scholarly journals Sensitivity of Functional Traits to Environmental factors in a Karst Plant Community

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Wang ◽  
Limin Zhang ◽  
Jin Chen ◽  
Ling Feng ◽  
Fangbing Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Nitrogen Content ◽  
Bulk Density ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Specific Leaf Area ◽  
Soil Bulk Density ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen Content

In this study, the plant communities at five succession stages (herbage, herbage-shrub, shrub, tree-shrub, and tree) in the Zhenning Karst Plateau area of Guizhou were examined. The changes of plant functional characteristics in different succession stages were analyzed, as was the relationship between functional traits and environmental factors. The main results include the following. (1) During the succes-sion process, plant height, leaf dry matter mass, leaf area, leaf nitrogen content, and leaf phosphorus content gradually increased, whereas leaf thickness and specific leaf area decreased, and leaf C:P ratio and leaf N:P ratios did not change significantly. (2) Soil organic matter, soil total nitrogen, soil total phosphorus, soil C:N, soil C:P, and soil C:K increased at first and then decreased, reaching a peak at the tree-shrub stage. Soil total potassium fluctuated and soil bulk density gradually decreased and reached the lowest value at the tree-shrub stage. (3) Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the plant community shifted from a nutri-ent-poor soil environment to a nutrient-rich environment. Soil total phosphorus, soil C:K, soil organic mat-ter, soil C:N, and soil bulk density were the key environmental factors affecting the change of functional traits. (4) Structural equation modeling suggests that that specific leaf area and leaf nitrogen content had more sensitive responses to soil nutrient resources and environmental factors, respectively.

scholarly journals Leaf:wood allometry and functional traits together explain substantial growth rate variation in rainforest trees

AoB Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
E F Gray ◽  
I J Wright ◽  
D S Falster ◽  
A S D Eller ◽  
C E R Lehmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Wood Density ◽  
Specific Leaf Area ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Diameter Growth ◽  
Rate Variation ◽  
Stem Diameter Growth

Abstract Plant growth rates drive ecosystem productivity and are a central element of plant ecological strategies. For seedlings grown under controlled conditions, a large literature has firmly identified the functional traits that drive interspecific variation in growth rate. For adult plants, the corresponding knowledge is surprisingly poorly understood. Until recently it was widely assumed that the key trait drivers would be the same (e.g. specific leaf area, or SLA), but an increasing number of papers has demonstrated this not to be the case, or not generally so. New theory has provided a prospective basis for understanding these discrepancies. Here we quantified relationships between stem diameter growth rates and functional traits of adult woody plants for 41 species in an Australian tropical rainforest. From various cost-benefit considerations, core predictions included that: (i) photosynthetic rate would be positively related to growth rate; (ii) SLA would be unrelated to growth rate (unlike in seedlings where it is positively related to growth); (iii) wood density would be negatively related to growth rate; and (iv) leaf mass:sapwood mass ratio (LM:SM) in branches (analogous to a benefit:cost ratio) would be positively related to growth rate. All our predictions found support, particularly those for LM:SM and wood density; photosynthetic rate was more weakly related to stem diameter growth rates. Specific leaf area was convincingly correlated to growth rate, in fact negatively. Together, SLA, wood density and LM:SM accounted for 52 % of variation in growth rate among these 41 species, with each trait contributing roughly similar explanatory power. That low SLA species can achieve faster growth rates than high SLA species was an unexpected result but, as it turns out, not without precedent, and easily understood via cost-benefit theory that considers whole-plant allocation to different tissue types. Branch-scale leaf:sapwood ratio holds promise as an easily measurable variable that may help to understand growth rate variation. Using cost-benefit approaches teamed with combinations of leaf, wood and allometric variables may provide a path towards a more complete understanding of growth rates under field conditions.

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