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Chelli S, Bricca A, Tsakalos JL, Andreetta A, Bonari G, Campetella G, Carnicelli S, Cervellini M, Puletti N, Wellstein C, Canullo R. Multiple drivers of functional diversity in temperate forest understories: Climate, soil, and forest structure effects. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 916:170258. [PMID: 38246378 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 01/23/2024]
Abstract
In macroecology, shifting from coarse- to local-scale explanatory factors is crucial for understanding how global change impacts functional diversity (FD). Plants possess diverse traits allowing them to differentially respond across a spectrum of environmental conditions. We aim to assess how macro- to microclimate, stand-scale measured soil properties, forest structure, and management type, influence forest understorey FD at the macroecological scale. Our study covers Italian forests, using thirteen predictors categorized into climate, soil, forest structure, and management. We analyzed five traits (i.e., specific leaf area, plant size, seed mass, belowground bud bank size, and clonal lateral spread) capturing independent functional dimensions to calculate the standardized effect size of functional diversity (SES-FD) for all traits (multi-trait) and for single traits. Multiple regression models were applied to assess the effect of predictors on SES-FD. We revealed that climate, soil, and forest structure significantly drive SES-FD of specific leaf area, plant size, seed mass, and bud bank. Forest management had a limited effect. However, differences emerged between herbaceous and woody growth forms of the understorey layer, with herbaceous species mainly responding to climate and soil features, while woody species were mainly affected by forest structure. Future warmer and more seasonal climate could reduce the diversity of resource economics, plant size, and persistence strategies of the forest understorey. Soil eutrophication and acidification may impact the diversity of regeneration strategies; canopy closure affects the diversity of above- and belowground traits, with a larger effect on woody species. Multifunctional approaches are vital to disentangle the effect of global changes on functional diversity since independent functional specialization axes are modulated by different drivers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Chelli
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy; Centro Interuniversitario per le Biodiversità Vegetale Big Data - PLANT DATA, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Alessandro Bricca
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy
| | - James L Tsakalos
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy; Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Anna Andreetta
- Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Italy
| | | | - Giandiego Campetella
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy; Centro Interuniversitario per le Biodiversità Vegetale Big Data - PLANT DATA, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | | | - Marco Cervellini
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
| | - Nicola Puletti
- CREA, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, Arezzo, Italy
| | - Camilla Wellstein
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Roberto Canullo
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy; Centro Interuniversitario per le Biodiversità Vegetale Big Data - PLANT DATA, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Cervellini M, Zannini P, Di Musciano M, Fattorini S, Jiménez-Alfaro B, Rocchini D, Field R, R Vetaas O, Irl SDH, Beierkuhnlein C, Hoffmann S, Fischer JC, Casella L, Angelini P, Genovesi P, Nascimbene J, Chiarucci A. A grid-based map for the Biogeographical Regions of Europe. Biodivers Data J 2020; 8:e53720. [PMID: 32684779 PMCID: PMC7340631 DOI: 10.3897/bdj.8.e53720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Biogeographical units are widely adopted in ecological research and nature conservation management, even though biogeographical regionalisation is still under scientific debate. The European Environment Agency provided an official map of the European Biogeographical Regions (EBRs), which contains the official boundaries used in the Habitats and Birds Directives. However, these boundaries bisect cells in the official EU 10 km × 10 km grid used for many purposes, including reporting species and habitat data, meaning that 6881 cells overlap two or more regions. Therefore, superimposing the EBRs vector map over the grid creates ambiguities in associating some cells with European Biogeographical Regions. New information To provide an operational tool to unambiguously define the boundaries of the eleven European Biogeographical Regions, we provide a specifically developed raster map of Grid-Based European Biogeographical Regions (GB-EBRs). In this new map, the borders of the EBRs are reshaped to coherently match the standard European 10 km × 10 km grid imposed for reporting tasks by Article 17 of the Habitats Directive and used for many other datasets. We assign each cell to the EBR with the largest area within the cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Cervellini
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna Bologna Italy
| | - Piero Zannini
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna Bologna Italy
| | - Michele Di Musciano
- Department of Life, Health & Environmental Science, University of L'Aquila, Coppito, L'Aquila, Italy Department of Life, Health & Environmental Science, University of L'Aquila Coppito, L'Aquila Italy
| | - Simone Fattorini
- Department of Life, Health & Environmental Science, University of L'Aquila, Coppito, L'Aquila, Italy Department of Life, Health & Environmental Science, University of L'Aquila Coppito, L'Aquila Italy
| | - Borja Jiménez-Alfaro
- Research Unit of Biodiversity (CSIC/UO/PA), Univ. of Oviedo, Mieres, Principado de Asturias, Spain Research Unit of Biodiversity (CSIC/UO/PA), Univ. of Oviedo Mieres, Principado de Asturias Spain
| | - Duccio Rocchini
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna Bologna Italy.,Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Praha, Czech Republic Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning Praha Czech Republic
| | - Richard Field
- University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom University of Nottingham Nottingham United Kingdom
| | - Ole R Vetaas
- Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway Department of Geography, University of Bergen Bergen Norway
| | - Severin D H Irl
- Biogeography and Biodiversity Lab, Institute of Physical Geography, Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany Biogeography and Biodiversity Lab, Institute of Physical Geography, Goethe-University Frankfurt Germany
| | - Carl Beierkuhnlein
- Biogeography Department, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany Biogeography Department, University of Bayreuth Bayreuth Germany
| | - Samuel Hoffmann
- Biogeography Department, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany Biogeography Department, University of Bayreuth Bayreuth Germany
| | - Jan-Christopher Fischer
- Biogeography Department, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany Biogeography Department, University of Bayreuth Bayreuth Germany.,School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol Bristol United Kingdom
| | - Laura Casella
- Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Rome, Italy Institute for Environmental Protection and Research Rome Italy
| | - Pierangela Angelini
- Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Rome, Italy Institute for Environmental Protection and Research Rome Italy
| | - Piero Genovesi
- Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Rome, Italy Institute for Environmental Protection and Research Rome Italy
| | - Juri Nascimbene
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna Bologna Italy
| | - Alessandro Chiarucci
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA), University of Bologna Bologna Italy
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Chelli S, Ottaviani G, Campetella G, Canullo R. Community weighted mean trait data of Italian forest understories. Data Brief 2019; 28:104947. [PMID: 31886369 PMCID: PMC6920475 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2019.104947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Revised: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 11/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Plant functional trait data aggregated at the community level (i.e., community weighted mean, CWM) are fundamental to study plant-environment relationships. Here, we provide a large database of CWM values of twelve traits reflecting several plant functions, including leaf, seed, whole-plant, clonal and bud bank traits. The CWMs were calculated in 201 forest stands (a statistically representative sample of all the Italian forests) across three biogeographic regions: Alpine, Continental, and Mediterranean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Chelli
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
| | - Gianluigi Ottaviani
- Institute of Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, 135 Dukelská, CZ-37982, Třeboň, Czech Republic
| | - Giandiego Campetella
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
| | - Roberto Canullo
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
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