scholarly journals Plant Functional Traits on Tropical Ultramafic Habitats Affected by Fire and Mining: Insights for Reclamation

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Celestino Quintela-Sabarís ◽  
Michel-Pierre Faucon ◽  
Rimi Repin ◽  
John B. Sugau ◽  
Reuben Nilus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Lateral Spreading ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Ultramafic Soils ◽  
As Species ◽  
First Choice ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
Number Of Stems ◽  
In Fire

Biodiversity-rich tropical ultramafic areas are currently being impacted by land clearing and particularly by mine activities. The reclamation of ultramafic degraded areas requires a knowledge of pioneer plant species. The objective of this study is to highlight the functional traits of plants that colonize ultramafic areas after disturbance by fire or mining activities. This information will allow trait-assisted selection of candidate species for reclamation. Fifteen plots were established on ultramafic soils in Sabah (Borneo, Malaysia) disturbed by recurrent fires (FIRE plots) or by soil excavation and quarrying (MINE plots). In each plot, soil samples were collected and plant cover as well as species abundances were estimated. Fifteen functional traits related to revegetation, nutrient improvement, or Ni phytomining were measured in sampled plants. Vegetation of both FIRE and MINE plots was dominated by perennials with lateral spreading capacity (mainly by rhizomes). Plant communities displayed a conservative growth strategy, which is an adaptation to low nutrient availability on ultramafic soils. Plant height was higher in FIRE than in MINE plots, whereas the number of stems per plant was higher in MINE plots. Perennial plants with lateral spreading capacity and a conservative growth strategy would be the first choice for the reclamation of ultramafic degraded areas. Additional notes for increasing nutrient cycling, managing competition, and implementing of Ni-phytomining are also provided.

scholarly journals Non-structural carbohydrate concentrations in woody organs, but not leaves, of temperate and tropical tree angiosperms are independent of the ‘fast-slow’ plant economic spectrum

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A. Ramirez ◽  
D. Craven ◽  
J.M. Posada ◽  
B. Reu ◽  
C.A. Sierra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Carbon Allocation ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Change Factors ◽  
Leaf Habit ◽  
As Species ◽  
Structural Carbohydrate ◽  
The Relationship

SummaryBackground and AimsCarbohydrate reserves play a vital role in plant survival during periods of negative carbon balance. Considering active storage of reserves, there is a trade-off between carbon allocation to growth and to reserves and defense. A resulting hypothesis is that allocation to reserves exhibits a coordinated variation with functional traits associated with the ‘fast-slow’ plant economics spectrum.MethodsWe tested the relationship between non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) of tree organs and functional traits using 61 angiosperm tree species from temperate and tropical forests with phylogenetic hierarchical Bayesian models.Key ResultsOur results provide evidence that NSC concentrations in woody organs and plant functional traits are largely decoupled, meaning that species’ resilience is unrelated to their position on the ‘fast-slow’ plant economics spectrum. In contrast, we found that variation between NSC concentrations in leaves and the fast-slow continuum was coordinated, as species with higher leaf NSC had traits values associated with resource conservative species such as lower SLA, lower Amax, and high wood density. We did not detect an influence of leaf habit on the variation of NSC concentrations in tree organs.ConclusionsEfforts to predict the response of ecosystems to global change will need to integrate a suite of plant traits, such as NSC concentrations in woody organs, that are independent of the ‘fast-slow’ spectrum and that capture how species respond to a broad range of global change factors.

scholarly journals Macro- and mesoscale pattern interdependencies in complex networks

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (159) ◽  
pp. 20190553 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Palazzi ◽  
J. Borge-Holthoefer ◽  
C. J. Tessone ◽  
A. Solé-Ribalta
Keyword(s):  
Complex Networks ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Modular Architecture ◽  
Modular Networks ◽  
As Species ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
Organizational Patterns ◽  
Natural Combination ◽  
The Relationship

Identifying and explaining the structure of complex networks at different scales has become an important problem across disciplines. At the mesoscale, modular architecture has attracted most of the attention. At the macroscale, other arrangements—e.g. nestedness or core–periphery—have been studied in parallel, but to a much lesser extent. However, empirical evidence increasingly suggests that characterizing a network with a unique pattern typology may be too simplistic, since a system can integrate properties from distinct organizations at different scales. Here, we explore the relationship between some of these different organizational patterns: two at the mesoscale (modularity and in-block nestedness); and one at the macroscale (nestedness). We show experimentally and analytically that nestedness imposes bounds to modularity, with exact analytical results in idealized scenarios. Specifically, we show that nestedness and modularity are interdependent. Furthermore, we analytically evidence that in-block nestedness provides a natural combination between nested and modular networks, taking structural properties of both. Far from a mere theoretical exercise, understanding the boundaries that discriminate each architecture is fundamental, to the extent that modularity and nestedness are known to place heavy dynamical effects on processes, such as species abundances and stability in ecology.

scholarly journals Are Commonly Measured Functional Traits Involved in Tropical Tree Responses to Climate?

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Wagner ◽  
Vivien Rossi ◽  
Christopher Baraloto ◽  
Damien Bonal ◽  
Clément Stahl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Tree Growth ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Growth Response ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Growth Responses

Climate models predict significant rainfall reduction in Amazonia, reducing water availability for trees. We present how functional traits modulate the tree growth response to climate. We used data from 3 years of bimestrial growth measurements for 204 trees of 53 species in the forest of Paracou, French Guiana. We integrated climate variables from an eddy covariance tower and functional trait values describing life history, leaf, and stem economics. Our results indicated that the measured functional traits are to some extent linked to the response of trees to climate but they are poor predictors of the tree climate-induced growth variation. Tree growth was affected by water availability for most of the species with different species growth strategies in drought conditions. These strategies were linked to some functional traits, especially maximum height and wood density. These results suggest that (i) trees seem adapted to the dry season at Paracou but they show different growth responses to drought, (ii) drought response is linked to growth strategy and is partly explained by functional traits, and (iii) the limited part of the variation of tree growth explained by functional traits may be a strong limiting factor for the prediction of tree growth response to climate.

scholarly journals Can plant functional traits explain shifts in community composition in a changing Arctic?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katlyn Rose Betway ◽  
Robert D. Hollister ◽  
Jeremy May ◽  
Jacob A. Harris ◽  
William Gould ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
And Function ◽  
Northern Alaska ◽  
Over Time

The Arctic is warming more than twice the global average. Graminoids, deciduous shrubs, and evergreen shrubs have been shown to increase in cover in some regions, but not others. To better understand why plant response varies across regions, we compared change in cover over time with nine functional traits of twelve dominant species at three regions in northern Alaska (Utqiaġvik, Atqasuk, and Toolik Lake). Cover was measured three times from 2008 to 2018. Repeated measures ANOVA found one species showed a significant change in cover over time; Carex aquatilis increased at Atqasuk by 12.7%. Canonical correspondence analysis suggested a relationship between shifts in species cover and traits, but Pearson and Spearman correlations did not find a significant trend for any trait when analyzed individually. Investigation of community-weighted means (CWM) for each trait revealed no significant changes over time for any trait at any region. Whereas, estimated ecosystem values for several traits important to ecosystem functioning showed consistent increases over time at two regions (Utqiaġvik and Atqasuk). Results thus indicate that vascular plant community composition and function have remained consistent over time; however, documented increases in total plant cover have important implications for ecosystem functioning.

scholarly journals Can functional traits explain phylogenetic signal in the composition of a plant community?

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daijiang Li ◽  
Anthoy R Ives ◽  
Donald M Waller
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Functional Trait ◽  
Phylogenetic Information ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Forest Sites ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
Understory Plant

Phylogeny-based and functional trait-based analyses are two principle ways to study community assembly and underlying ecological processes. In principle, knowing all information about species traits would make phylogenetic information redundant, at least that component of phylogenetic signal in the distribution of species among communities that is caused by phylogenetically related species sharing similar traits. In reality, phylogenies may contain more information than a set of singular, discretely measured traits because we cannot measure all species traits and may misjudge which are most important. The extent to which functional trait information makes phylogenetic information redundant, however, has not been explicitly studied with empirical data in community ecology. Here, we use phylogenetic linear mixed models to analyze community assembly of 55 understory plant species in 30 forest sites in central Wisconsin. These communities show strong phylogenetic attraction, yet variation among sites in 20 environmental variables could not account for this pattern. Most of the 15 functional traits we measured had strong phylogenetic signal, but only three varied strongly among sites in ways that affected species' abundances. These three traits explained only 19% of variation in phylogenetic patterns of species co-occurrence. Thus, phylogenies appear to provide considerably more information about community assembly than the functional traits measured in this study, demonstrating the value of phylogeny in studying of community assembly processes even with abundant functional traits.

scholarly journals Landscape metrics as functional traits in plants: perspectives from a glacier foreland

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Sitzia ◽  
Matteo Dainese ◽  
Bertil O. Krüsi ◽  
Duncan McCollin
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Landscape Metrics ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Leaf Size ◽  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
Eastern Alps ◽  
Rlq Analysis ◽  
As Species ◽  
Species Specific

Spatial patterns of vegetation arise from an interplay of functional traits, environmental characteristics and chance. The retreat of glaciers offers exposed substrates which are colonised by plants forming distinct patchy patterns. The aim of this study was to unravel whether patch-level landscape metrics of plants can be treated as functional traits. We sampled 46 plots, each 1 m × 1 m, distributed along a restricted range of terrain age and topsoil texture on the foreland of the Nardis glacier, located in the South-Eastern Alps, Italy. Nine quantitative functional traits were selected for 16 of the plant species present, and seven landscape metrics were measured to describe the spatial arrangement of the plant species’ patches on the study plots, at a resolution of 1 cm × 1 cm. We studied the relationships among plant communities, landscape metrics, terrain age and topsoil texture. RLQ-analysis was used to examine trait-spatial configuration relationships. To assess the effect of terrain age and topsoil texture variation on trait performance, we applied a partial-RLQ analysis approach. Finally, we used the fourth-corner statistic to quantify and test relationships between traits, landscape metrics and RLQ axes. Floristically-defined relevé clusters differed significantly with regard to several landscape metrics. Diversity in patch types and size increased and patch size decreased with increasing canopy height, leaf size and weight. Moreover, more compact patch shapes were correlated with an increased capacity for the conservation of nutrients in leaves. Neither plant species composition nor any of the landscape metrics were found to differ amongst the three classes of terrain age or topsoil texture. We conclude that patch-level landscape metrics of plants can be treated as species-specific functional traits. We recommend that existing databases of functional traits should incorporate these type of data.

scholarly journals Populations and assemblages living on the edge: dung beetles responses to forests-pasture ecotones

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e6148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paola Martínez-Falcón ◽  
Gustavo A. Zurita ◽  
Ilse J. Ortega-Martínez ◽  
Claudia E. Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Edge Effects ◽  
Functional Divergence ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Dung Beetle ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Insect Biodiversity ◽  
As Species ◽  
Functional Richness ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
Managed Landscapes

Edge effects alter insect biodiversity in several ways. However, we still have a limited understanding on simultaneous responses of ecological populations and assemblages to ecotones, especially in human modified landscapes. We analyze edge effects on dung beetle populations and assemblages between livestock pastures and native temperate forests (Juniperusand pine-oak forests (POFs)) to describe how species abundances and assemblage parameters respond to edge effects through gradients in forest-pasture ecotones. InJuniperusforest 13 species avoided the ecotones: six species showed greater abundance in forest interior and seven in pasturelands, while the other two species had a neutral response to the edge. In a different way, in POF we found five species avoiding the edge (four with greater abundance in pastures and only one in forest), two species had a neutral response, and two showed a unimodal pattern of abundance near to the edge. At the assemblage level edge effects are masked, as species richness, diversity, functional richness, functional evenness, and compositional incidence dissimilarity did not vary along forest-pasture ecotones. However, total abundance and functional divergence showed higher values in pastures in one of the two sampling localities. Also, assemblage similarity based on species’ abundance showed a peak near to the edge in POF. We propose that conservation efforts in human-managed landscapes should focus on mitigating current and delayed edge effects. Ecotone management will be crucial in livestock dominated landscapes to conserve regional biodiversity and the environmental services carried out by dung beetles.

scholarly journals Historic collections as a tool for assessing the global pollinator crisis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Bartomeus ◽  
J.R. Stavert ◽  
D. Ward ◽  
O. Aguado
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Specimen Collection ◽  
As Species ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
The Status ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
Pollinator Declines

AbstractThere is increasing concern about the decline of pollinators worldwide. However, despite reports that pollinator declines are widespread, data are scarce and often geographically and taxonomically biased. These biases limit robust inference about any potential pollinator crisis. Non-structured and opportunistic historical specimen collection data provide the only source of historical information which can serve as a baseline for identifying pollinator declines. Specimens historically collected and preserved in museums not only provide information on where and when species were collected, but also contain other ecological information such as species interactions and morphological traits. Here, we provide a synthesis of how researchers have used historical data to identify long-term changes in biodiversity, species abundances, morphology and pollination services. Despite recent advances, we show that information on the status and trends of most pollinators is absent, but we highlight opportunities and limitations to progress the assessment of pollinator declines globally. Finally, we demonstrate different approaches to analysing museum collection data using two contrasting case studies from distinct geographical regions (New Zealand and Spain) for which long-term pollinator declines have never been assessed. There is immense potential for museum specimens to play a central role in assessing the extent of the global pollination crisis.

scholarly journals Landscape-scale changes in forest structure and functional traits along an Andes-to-Amazon elevation gradient

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 15415-15454 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. P. Asner ◽  
C. Anderson ◽  
R. E. Martin ◽  
D. E. Knapp ◽  
R. Tupayachi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
Imaging Spectroscopy ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Elevation Gradients ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Environmental Controls

Abstract. Elevation gradients provide opportunities to explore environmental controls on forest structure and functioning, but plot-based studies have proven highly variable due to limited geographic scope. We used airborne imaging spectroscopy and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) to quantify changes in three-dimensional forest structure and canopy functional traits in a series of 25 ha landscapes distributed along a 3300 m elevation gradient from lowland Amazonia to treeline in the Peruvian Andes. Canopy greenness, photosynthetic fractional cover and exposed non-photosynthetic vegetation varied as much across lowland forests (100–200 m) as they did from the lowlands to the Andean treeline (3400 m). Elevation was positively correlated with canopy gap density and understory vegetation cover, and negatively related to canopy height and vertical profile. Increases in gap density were tightly linked to increases in understory plant cover, and larger gaps (20–200 m2 produced 25–30 times the response in understory cover than did smaller gaps (< 5 m2. Scaling of gap size to gap frequency was, however, relatively constant along the elevation gradient, which when combined with other canopy structural information, indicates equilibrium turnover patterns from the lowlands to treeline. Our results provide a first landscape-scale quantification of forest structure and canopy functional traits with changing elevation, thereby improving our understanding of disturbance, demography and ecosystem processes in the Andes-to-Amazon corridor.

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