scholarly journals Plant species richness and composition of a habitat island within Lake Kastoria and comparison with those of a true island within the protected Pamvotis lake (NW Greece)

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Papanikolaou ◽  
Maria Panitsa
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Community Interest ◽  
Habitat Island ◽  
The City

Lake Kastoria is one of the potentially “ancient” Balkan lakes that has a great environmental importance and ecological value, attracts high touristic interest and is under various anthropogenic pressures. It belongs to a Natura 2000 Special Protection Area and a Site of Community Interest. The city of Kastoria is located at the western part of the lake and just next to it, towards the centre of the lake, is a peninsula, a habitat island. In the framework of research concerning the flora of lake islands of Greece, one of the main objectives of the present study is to fill a gap concerning plant species richness of the habitat island within the protected Lake Kastoria, which is surrounded by the lake except for its north-western part where the border of the city of Kastoria is located. Floristic analysis of the habitat island of Lake Kastoria is in large measure accounted, concerning chorology with emphasis on Balkan endemics (8.7%), life forms, by hemicryptophytes (36.1%), therophytes (33.2%), phanerophytes (16.4%) and geophytes (10.9%) and, for habitats, by taxa preferring agricultural and ruderal ones (53.3%). Another objective is to compare its floristic composition to the one of the island within the protected urban Lake Pamvotis - one of the very few lake islands in Greece - focusing on the influence of urbanisation. The α- and β- diversity are measured in order to reveal floristic differences. Beta diversity partitioning in turnover and nestedness showed that the β-diversity is mostly expressed as compositional turnover. The role of the society in combination with long-term programmes for the study of plant species richness, functional diversity and patterns of species assemblages over time are necessary for the effective management and protection of protected areas, including lake insular areas.

Spatio-temporal patterns along a primary succession on alluvial sediments

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 888-897
Author(s):  
Maša Ignjatović ◽  
Mitja Kaligarič ◽  
Sonja Škornik ◽  
Danijel Ivajnšič
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Primary Succession ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Artificial Lake ◽  
White Willow ◽  
Successional Stages

AbstractDynamic alluvial landscapes offer many possibilities to study primary succession processes on newly developed habitats. However, within the Central European environmental conditions, where watercourses and their riparian spaces are under severe anthropogenic pressures — water regulation, deforestation, lowering of groundwater — natural processes are limited. We studied primary succession on alluvial stream deposits in an artificial lake, where we aimed to follow the terrestrialisation rate and habitat turnover, along with plant species richness and composition across successional stages. In 30 years, a pristine white-willow riparian forest developed. One half of the initially aquatic habitat became terrestrial. The frequency of change, studied on 11250 quadrats 10×10 m each (on a scale from “no change” to 8 changes) and the mean of change per habitat type (most of the habitats changed 2 to 3 times) revealed only one successional trajectory. The percentage flow chart showed a deterministic pathway of succession. The “time since formation” of a terrestrial habitat shows that more than 20% of the lake was terrestrialised within in the first ten years. We studied species richness and composition along three composed transects, following successional stages. We found that the newly assembled riparian white willow woodland has a surprisingly low colonisation rate of plant species.

scholarly journals Connectivity assessment and prioritization of urban grasslands as a helpful tool for effective management of urban ecosystem services

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0244452
Author(s):  
Hassanali Mollashahi ◽  
Magdalena Szymura ◽  
Tomasz H. Szymura
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Dispersal Ability ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
City Center ◽  
High Resolution Data ◽  
The City

Urban grasslands are usually managed as short-cut lawns and have limited biodiversity. Urban grasslands with low-intensity management are species rich and can perform numerous ecosystem services, but they are not accepted by citizens everywhere. Further, increasing and/or maintaining a relatively high level of plant species richness in an urban environment is limited by restricted plant dispersal. In this study, we examined the connectivity of urban grasslands and prioritized the grassland patches with regard to their role in connectivity in an urban landscape. We used high-resolution data from a land use system to map grassland patches in Wrocław city, Silesia, southwest Poland, Central Europe, and applied a graph theory approach to assess their connectivity and prioritization. We next constructed a model for several dispersal distance thresholds (2, 20, 44, 100, and 1000 m), reflecting plants with differing dispersal potential. Our results revealed low connectivity of urban grassland patches, especially for plants with low dispersal ability (2–20 m). The priority of patches was correlated with their area for all dispersal distance thresholds. Most of the large patches important to overall connectivity were located in urban peripheries, while in the city center, connectivity was more restricted and grassland area per capita was the lowest. The presence of a river created a corridor, allowing plants to migrate along watercourse, but it also created a barrier dividing the system. The results suggest that increasing the plant species richness in urban grasslands in the city center requires seed addition.

Using Species-Area Curves to Examine Weed Communities in Organic and Conventional Spring Wheat Systems

Weed Science ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredric W. Pollnac ◽  
Bruce D. Maxwell ◽  
Fabian D. Menalled
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Spring Wheat ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Tillage Systems ◽  
Organic Systems ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Species Area ◽  
Experimental Plots

The ecological significance of species diversity within agroecosystems has become a point of interest in recent years. Although the time and spatial scale at which diversity is measured may influence the interpretation of its functional importance, little research has been conducted on methodological approaches to assess the number and relative abundance of agricultural plant species. In this study, we (1) evaluated the applicability of the species-area curve to examine plant species richness and α and β diversity in conventional no-tillage and organically managed spring wheat systems, and (2) assessed temporal changes in plant species richness across systems. Measurements were obtained at three times during two growing seasons in experimental plots and at three times during one growing season on commercial farms in Montana. In accordance with previous studies, management system affected species richness and diversity. In eight of nine studied cases, we detected a positive relationship between species richness and sampled area. In these eight cases, intercepts (α diversity) were higher for the organic systems than for the conventional no-tillage systems. Slopes (β diversity) were higher for the organic system in six of nine cases studied. Species richness declined as the season progressed for both systems, with the organic systems consistently having more species than the conventional no-tillage systems. Despite differences in the species composition and between the experimental plots and commercial farm field size, the patterns of species richness and α and β diversity were relatively constant, suggesting that the processes responsible for the assembly of plant communities in agroecosystems of the Northern Great Plains are similar at a range of spatial scales.

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