Plant functional traits as measures of ecosystem service provision

Response of grassland ecosystem function to plant functional traits under different vegetation restoration models in areas of karst desertification

Plant functional traits serve as a bridge between plants, the environment, and ecosystem function, playing an important role in predicting the changes in ecosystem function that occur during ecological restoration. However, the response of grassland ecosystem function to plant functional traits in the context of ecological restoration in areas of karst desertification remains unclear. Therefore, in this study, we selected five plant functional traits [namely, plant height (H), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), root length (RL), and root dry matter content (RDMC)], measured these along with community-weighted mean (CWM) and functional trait diversity, and combined these measures with 10 indexes related to ecosystem function in order to investigate the differences in plant functional traits and ecosystem function, as well as the relationship between plant functional traits and ecosystem functions, under four ecological restoration models [Dactylis glomerata (DG), Lolium perenne (LP), Lolium perenne + Trifolium repens (LT), and natural grassland (NG)]. We found that: 1) the Margalef index and Shannon-Wiener index were significantly lower for plant species in DG and LP than for those in NG (P<0.05), while the Simpson index was significantly higher in the former than in NG (P<0.05); 2) CWMH, CWMLDMC, and CWMRDMC were significantly higher in DG, LP, and LT than in NG, while CWMSLA was significantly lower in the former than in NG (P<0.05). The functional richness index (FRic) was significantly higher in DG and LP than in NG and LT, but the functional dispersion index (FDis) and Rao's quadratic entropy index (RaoQ) were significantly lower in DG and LP than in NG and LT (P<0.05), and there was no significant difference between DG and LP, or between NG and LT (P>0.05); 3) ecosystem function, including ecosystem productivity, carbon storage, water conservation and soil conservation, was highest in LT and lowest in NG; and 4) CWMLDMC (F=56.7, P=0.024), CWMRL (F=28.7, P=0.024), and CWMH (F=4.5, P=0.048) were the main factors affecting ecosystem function. The results showed that the mixed pasture of perennial ryegrass and white clover was most conductive to restoration of ecosystem function. This discovery has important implications for the establishment of vegetation, optimal utilization of resources, and the sustainable development of degraded karst ecosystems.

Combining Multiple Plant Attributes to Reveal Differences in Community Structure in Two Distant Deserts in Central Asia

International interest is growing in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in drylands. Desert ecosystems across arid Central Asia are severely affected by global change. Understanding the changes in a plant community is an essential prerequisite to revealing the community assembly mechanism, vegetation conservation, and management. The knowledge of large-scale spatial variation in plant community structure in different Central Asian deserts is still limited. In this study, we selected the Taukum (TD, Kazakhstan) and the Gurbantunggut (GD, China) deserts as the research area, with similar latitudes despite being nearly 1000 km apart. Thirteen and 15 sampling plots were set up and thoroughly investigated. The differences in community structure depending on multiple plant attributes (individual level: plant height, canopy diameter, and plant volume, and community level: plant density, total cover, and total volume) were systematically studied. TD had a better overall environmental status than GD. A total of 113 species were found, with 68 and 74 in TD and GD, respectively. The number of species and plant attributes was unequally distributed across different families and functional groups between deserts. The values of several plant attributes, such as ephemerals, annuals, dicotyledons, and shrubs with assimilative branches in GD, were significantly lower than those in TD. The Motyka indices of six plant attributes (26.18-38.61%) were higher between the two deserts than the species similarity index (20.4%), indicating a more robust convergence for plant functional attributes. The community structures in the two deserts represented by different plant attribute matrices demonstrated irregular differentiation patterns in ordination diagrams. The most variance in community structure was attributed to soil and climatic factors, while geographic factors had the smallest proportion. Consequently, the community structures of the two distant deserts were both different and similar to an extent. This resulted from the long-term impacts of heterogeneous environments within the same region. Our knowledge is further deepened by understanding the variation in community structure in different deserts on a large spatial scale. This therefore provides valuable insights into conserving regional biodiversity in Central Asia.

Mapping Peer-Reviewed Scientific Studies on Plant Trait–Service Linkages Across Ecosystems: A Bibliometric Analysis

The concept of ‘ecosystem service’ has gained momentum in the twenty-first century to bridge the gap between human–nature interactions. However, the challenge remains to map the flow of ecosystem services (ES) for their efficient management. Among the multiple existing methods, biophysical assessments provide better knowledge of the state of the ecosystem and its mapping for complimentary services. Trait–service linkage is one of the tools to reliably link biodiversity with ES if we better understand the role functional traits play in the underlying ecosystem processes. In this paper, we have performed a bibliometric analysis of published literature on ES and plant functional traits to identify the current state of knowledge on trait–service linkage, biases, research gaps, and challenges. There was a skewed geographical basis for trait–service linkage studies; most studies were conducted in Europe and North America. The majority of the research focused on supporting and regulating ES, mainly carbon sequestration, biomass production, and climate regulation, using a particular set of vegetative traits, such as leaf, root, and plant height, and ignored most regeneration traits, except for a few flower traits. A matrix to quantify the association between ES and selected plant traits (specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf area, leaf nitrogen content, vegetation height, wood density, canopy density, root length, root density, flowering time, flower color and flower size) revealed that the two leaf traits (specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content) in the linkage have contrasting associations with multiple ES. The study illustrated that there is still a considerable research gap in linking plant traits with essential ES (biomass production, climate and water regulation). Thus, suggest future studies on ES should focus more on trait–service linkage across major ecosystems to underpin key ecosystem processes for better sustenance of ES and human well-being.

Could green infrastructure supplement ecosystem service provision from semi-natural grasslands?

Ancient semi-natural grasslands in Europe are important for ecosystem service (ES) provision. Often, the surrounding matrix contains 'Grassland Green Infrastructure' (GGI) that contain grassland species which have the potential to supplement grassland ES provision across the landscape. Here we investigate the potential for GGI to deliver a set of complementary ES, driven by plant composition.We surveyed 36 landscapes across three European countries comprising core grasslands and their surrounding GGI. We calculated community-level values of plant species characteristics to provide indicators for four ES: nature conservation value, pollination, carbon storage and aesthetic appeal.Inferred ES delivery for GGI was substantially lower than in core grasslands for conservation, pollination and aesthetic appeal indicators, but not for carbon storage. These differences were driven by the GGI having 17% fewer plant species, and compositional differences, with 61% of species unique to the core grasslands. In addition, connectivity to the core, the amount of GGI and inferred seed dispersal distances by livestock, were strongly positively correlated with conservation value, pollination and aesthetic indicators. All ES indicators showed similar responses to the GGI spatial structure and distance to the core, suggesting robust effects of these drivers on ES. We projected that improved landscape-wide delivery of nature conservation value and pollination could be achieved through targeted GGI management. Reductions in the distances seeds would need to disperse, more GGI, along with a diversification of the GGI elements, were predicted to enhance service credits.We conclude that for vegetation-related ES, species surveys can be employed to assess potential ES delivery. Creating and enhancing GGI is a useful landscape management strategy to supplement the ES delivered by ancient grasslands.

Experimental variables in sugarcane intercropping in Reunion Island for data matching

This study aimed to link experimental data dealing with complex agroecological systems. For sharing and linking collected data with the generic AEGIS (Agro-Ecological Global Information System) database, our work described in this data paper consists in mapping researcher variables to the AEGIS dictionary variable for different tropical crops (sugarcane, rice, sorghum or cover crops). Additionally, this data paper presents a study case based on sugarcane intercropping systems for evaluating 3 matching measures of variables.