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Carof M, Godinot O, Le Cadre E. Biodiversity-based cropping systems: A long-term perspective is necessary. Sci Total Environ 2022; 838:156022. [PMID: 35588807 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Revised: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Biodiversity-based cropping systems are an interesting option to address the many challenges that agriculture faces. However, benefits of these systems should not obscure the fact that creating biodiversity-based cropping systems represents a major change for farmers. To address this challenge, we argue that designing biodiversity-based cropping systems requires transforming ecological concepts into technical opportunities. Indeed, integrating ecological concepts such as plant-soil feedback and plant functional traits more strongly into cropping system design offers promising opportunities for the provision of ecosystem services, such as pest and disease control, crop production (including crop yield stability), climate regulation and regulation of soil quality. Accordingly, we demonstrate that designing biodiversity-based cropping systems requires considering not only the short term but also the long term. This would ensure that the expected ecosystem services have enough time to build up and provide their full effects, that the cropping systems are resilient and that they avoid the limitations of short-term assessments, which do not sufficiently consider multi-year effects. Considering long-term consequences of system change - induced by biodiversity - is essential to identify potential trade-offs between ecosystem services, as well as agricultural obstacles to and mechanisms of change. Including farmers and other food-chain actors in cropping system design would help find acceptable compromises that consider not only the provision of ecosystem services, but also other dimensions related to economic viability, workload or the technical feasibility of crops, which are identified as major obstacles to crop diversification. This strategy represents an exciting research front for the development of agroecological cropping systems.
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Deng J, Zhou L, Zhou W, Wang Q, Yu D. Effect of microfibers combined with UV-B and drought on plant community. Chemosphere 2022; 288:132413. [PMID: 34600006 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
There is an increasing recognition that microplastics contamination in soils has become an important threat for terrestrial ecosystems, and can interact with drought. In addition, due to the increasingly serious environmental pollution and the destruction of the ozone layer, the UV-B radiation to the earth's surface has gradually increased. However, we currently have no information about potential effects of microplastics, UV-B, and drought on plant communities. In order to make up for the vacancy, we conducted an experiment with grassland plant communities. Polyester fiber microplastics (absent, present), UV-B (fully transparent polythene film, attenuating UV-B radiation), and soil water conditions (well-watered, drought) were applied in a fully factorial design. A plant community consisting of four indigenous species and one invasive species, co-occurring in the terrestrial ecosystem of the northern temperate zone was established, and we investigated the effects of microplastics, UV-B, drought and their interactions on plant functional traits and plant community structure. We found that shoot and root biomass decreased with drought but increased with microfibers, and drought significantly decreased specific leaf area at the community level. Physiological and biochemical indexes of individual species and plant community were affected by microfibers, UV-B, drought and their interaction to a varying degree. More importantly, five species were divided into three clusters along PC1 corresponding to individuals from G. longituba and P. depressa, B. bipinnata and M. sativa, plus G. parviflora, which indicated that at the same conditions, G. parviflora would occupy unique ecological niches that affect the growth of native species. Our research offers insights into the mechanisms of the coexistence of native and invasive plants, as well as the ecological consequences of microplastics and other environment factors on plant communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaojiao Deng
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
| | - Li Zhou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
| | - Wangming Zhou
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
| | - Qingwei Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
| | - Dapao Yu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China
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Zhang Y, He N, Li M, Yan P, Yu G. Community chlorophyll quantity determines the spatial variation of grassland productivity. Sci Total Environ 2021; 801:149567. [PMID: 34418613 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2021] [Revised: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Plant functional traits are considered a potential approach to explain the spatial variation of ecosystem productivity on a large scale, but how to involve traits in models to predict productivity is still a challenge. Here, we propose a novel trait-based productivity (TBP) framework, as a core of plant community traits in land areas, to interpret the variation in productivity. We assumed that productivity in TBP is determined by a three-dimensional combination of "efficiency × quantity × growth length" and tested it using data regarding leaf chlorophyll traits (scaling-up community weighted mean) in three grassland transects of the Tibetan, Mongolian, and Loess Plateaus in China. The results showed that 52%, 54%, and 67% of the variations in gross primary productivity, net primary productivity, and aboveground net primary productivity, respectively, were captured by the TBP framework in all grassland transects, indicating that it was applicable for the three environmentally distinct plateaus. Furthermore, it was more fitted to the environmentally stressful Tibetan plateau, with an explanatory power of up to 83%. Compared with "chlorophyll efficiency", the "chlorophyll quantity" which is regulated by climate or regional limiting factors, has dominant roles in influencing the spatial variation of grassland productivity. The TBP framework emphasises the connotation of traits behind community functions and seemed as a potential in ecological estimations and predictions; however, multiple traits should be considered for further improvement in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Nianpeng He
- Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Institute of Grassland Science, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China.
| | - Mingxu Li
- Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Pu Yan
- Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Guirui Yu
- Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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Sibret T, Verbruggen W, Peaucelle M, Verryckt LT, Bauters M, Combe M, Boeckx P, Verbeeck H. High photosynthetic capacity of Sahelian C 3 and C 4 plants. Photosynth Res 2021; 147:161-175. [PMID: 33387194 DOI: 10.1007/s11120-020-00801-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The semi-arid ecosystems of the African Sahel play an important role in the global carbon cycle and are among the most sensitive ecosystems to future environmental pressures. Still, basic data of photosynthetic characteristics of Sahelian vegetation are very limited, preventing us to properly understand these ecosystems and to project their response to future global changes. Here, we aim to study and quantify key leaf traits, including photosynthetic parameters and leaf nutrients (Nleaf and Pleaf), of common C3 and C4 Sahelian plants (trees, lianas, and grasses) at the Dahra field site (Senegal). Dahra is a reference site for grazed semi-arid Sahelian savannah ecosystems in carbon cycle studies. Within the studied species, we found that photosynthetic parameters varied considerably between functional types. We also found significant relationships between and within photosynthetic parameters and leaf traits which mostly differed in their slopes from C3 to C4 plants. In agreement with the leaf economic spectrum, strong relationships (R2 = 0.71) were found between SLA and Nleaf whereby C3 and C4 plants showed very similar relationships. By comparing our data to a global dataset of plant traits, we show that measured Sahelian plants exhibit higher photosynthetic capacity (Asat) compared to the non-Sahelian vegetation, with values that are on average a fourfold of the global average. Moreover, Sahelian C3 plants showed photosynthetic nutrient use efficiencies that were on average roughly twice as high as global averages. We interpreted these results as the potential adaptation of Sahelian plants to short growing season lengths via an efficient nutrient allocation to optimize photosynthesis during this period. Our study provides robust estimates of key functional traits, but also traits relationships that will help to calibrate and validate vegetation models over this data-poor region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Sibret
- Isotope Bioscience Laboratory-ISOFYS, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
- CAVElab, Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Wim Verbruggen
- CAVElab, Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marc Peaucelle
- CAVElab, Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Lore T Verryckt
- PLECO, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Marijn Bauters
- Isotope Bioscience Laboratory-ISOFYS, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- CAVElab, Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Marie Combe
- CAVElab, Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Pascal Boeckx
- Isotope Bioscience Laboratory-ISOFYS, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Hans Verbeeck
- CAVElab, Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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Bai Z, Yuan ZQ, Wang DM, Fang S, Ye J, Wang XG, Yuan HS. Ectomycorrhizal fungus-associated determinants jointly reflect ecological processes in a temperature broad-leaved mixed forest. Sci Total Environ 2020; 703:135475. [PMID: 31767296 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2019] [Revised: 11/05/2019] [Accepted: 11/09/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi are closely related to vegetation compositions, edaphic properties, and site-specific processes. However, the coevolutionary mechanisms underlying the spatial distributions in floristic and ECM fungal composition in the context of biotic adaptations and abiotic variances remain unclear. We combine a total of 25 ECM fungus-associated environmental variables to impose three types of composite scores and then quantify the environmental gradients of geographical site, soil chemical property and vegetation functional trait across 122 grids of 20 m × 20 m in a 25-hm2 forest plot. Significant dissimilarities in vegetational and ECM fungal abundance and composition existed along the above environmental gradients. Specifically, a contrasting floristic distribution (e.g., Betula platyphylla vs. Tilia mandshurica) existed between the northeastern and southwestern areas and was closely related to the nutrient and moisture gradients (with high levels in the west and low levels in the east). Furthermore, the ECM fungal communities were more abundant in the nutrient-poor and low-moisture environments than in the nutrient-rich and high-moisture environments, and the mixed-forest in the middle-gradient sites between the northeastern and southwestern areas harbored the highest ECM fungal diversity. These findings suggest that predictable within-site vegetation succession is closely related to ECM-associated determinants and the natural spatial heterogeneity of edaphic properties at a local scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhen Bai
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110164, PR China
| | - Zuo-Qiang Yuan
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110164, PR China
| | - Dong-Mei Wang
- School of pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016, PR China
| | - Shuai Fang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110164, PR China
| | - Ji Ye
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110164, PR China
| | - Xu-Gao Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110164, PR China.
| | - Hai-Sheng Yuan
- CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110164, PR China.
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López-Angulo J, Pescador DS, Sánchez AM, Luzuriaga AL, Cavieres LA, Escudero A. Alpine vegetation dataset from three contrasting mountain ranges differing in climate and evolutionary history. Data Brief 2019; 27:104816. [PMID: 31788524 PMCID: PMC6880020 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2019.104816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2019] [Revised: 10/29/2019] [Accepted: 11/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Vegetation above treeline constitutes one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate warming and other drivers of Global Change. Given the panorama of such an uncertain future facing these plant communities, it is critical to know how they respond to environmental changes and improve the knowledge on the potential impacts of climate change on their distribution. Recently, with the impressive development of trait-based approaches, relevant progress has been made to better understand the relationships between environmental conditions and plant communities. In this data paper, we describe data on abundances of 327 alpine plant species across 430 subplots of 2.4 m × 2.4 m in three mountain ranges (Sierra de Guadarrama and Pyrenees in Spain, and the Central Andes in Chile). We provide data on different environmental variables that represent variation in abiotic conditions and operate at different spatial scales (e.g., climatic, topographic and soil conditions). Data on six plant functional traits are also shown, which were measured on ten individuals of each species, following standard protocols. We provided the dataset as tables in the supplementary material. This information could be used to analyse the relationship between the alpine vegetation and changes in environmental conditions, and ultimately, to understand ecosystem functioning and guide conservation strategies of theses threatened and valuable ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús López-Angulo
- Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Spain
| | - David S Pescador
- Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Spain
| | - Ana M Sánchez
- Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Spain
| | - Arantzazu L Luzuriaga
- Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Spain
| | - Lohengrin A Cavieres
- Departamento de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.,Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Santiago, Chile
| | - Adrián Escudero
- Departamento de Biología, Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnológicas, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles, Spain
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Liu H, Osborne CP, Yin D, Freckleton RP, Jiang G, Liu M. Phylogeny and ecological processes influence grass coexistence at different spatial scales within the steppe biome. Oecologia 2019; 191:25-38. [PMID: 31342256 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-019-04475-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Phylogenetic analyses are essential for disentangling how environmental filtering and competition determine species coexistence across spatial scales. Inner Mongolia steppe has strong environmental gradients, but how the phylogenetic relatedness of co-occurring species and phylogenetic signals of functional traits change across spatial scales remains unclear. We investigated the phylogenetic structure of grass assemblages along environmental gradients from regional to local scales, and measured functional traits within assemblages. We compared phylogenetic signals of plant traits between the same numbers of species randomly selected from the regional pool and species observed at the local scale, did phylogenetic principal component analysis to infer the main factors driving species coexistence, and examined the key plant trait-environment relationships across the phylogeny to reveal ecological adaptation mechanisms. Regionally, grass species were phylogenetically clustered with contrasting climate preferences. With decreasing spatial scales, species richness declined, changing from phylogenetically clustered to overdispersed, and phylogenetic signals of plant traits became weaker. At the local scale, grass assemblages were structured by soil water content and neighbor density, and the trait-environment relationships were less clear than those at the regional scale. This study demonstrated that at smaller scales, co-occurring grass species in the steppe tended to be more phylogenetically overdispersed, and that phylogenetic signals of plant functional traits became weaker with increasing abiotic and biotic interactions. Our findings contributed evidence for understanding species coexistence and maintenance at scales spanning regional to local communities in the East Asia steppe biome.
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Singh AK, Rai A, Kushwaha M, Chauhan PS, Pandey V, Singh N. Tree growth rate regulate the influence of elevated CO 2 on soil biochemical responses under tropical condition. J Environ Manage 2019; 231:1211-1221. [PMID: 30602246 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.11.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2018] [Revised: 10/15/2018] [Accepted: 11/07/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Tree growth rate can complicate our understandings of plant belowground responses to elevated CO2 (eCO2) in tropical ecosystems. We studied the effects of eCO2 on plant growth parameters, and rhizospheric soil properties including soil organic carbon (SOC), glomalin related soil protein (GRSP), microbial biomass C (Cmic), CO2 efflux (Cefflux), and microbial extracellular enzyme activities under two tropical tree saplings of fast-growing Tectona grandis (Teak) and slow-growing Butea monosperma (Butea). We exposed these saplings to eCO2 (∼550 ppm) and ambient CO2 (aCO2; ∼395 ppm) in the Indo-Gangetic plain region, and further (after 10 and 46 months) measured the changes in their rhizospheric soil properties. With respect to aCO2 treatment, eCO2 significantly increased plant height, stem and shoot weight, and total plant biomass of Teak. However, these plant traits did not considerably differed between eCO2 and aCO2 treatments of Butea. The eCO2 induced greater extent of increase in rhizospheric soil properties including SOC fractions (particulate OC, non-particulate OC and total OC), GRSP fractions (easily extractable- GRSP, difficulty extractable- GRSP and total- GRSP), Cmic, Cefflux and extracellular enzyme activities (phosphatase, dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase and fluorescein diacetate) were observed under Teak compared with Butea. Compared with aCO2 treatment, eCO2 slightly reduced soil available N and P under the Teak, but no changes were apparent between eCO2 and aCO2 treatments of the Butea. The greater extent of responses from soil variables observed after longer period (46 months) of CO2 exposure. The multivariate analysis confirmed that eCO2 treatment with Teak is more responsive compared with other treatments of Teak and Butea. This contrasting rhizospheric soil feedback to eCO2 between two tropical trees, suggesting fast-growing species will be more responsive to future climate. Such species will have a competitive advantage over coexisting less responsive species (e.g. Butea) under future eCO2 climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashutosh Kumar Singh
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI) Campus, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, India; Plant Ecology and Environmental Science Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, PO Box No 436, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, Uttar Pradesh, India.
| | - Apurva Rai
- Plant Ecology and Environmental Science Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, PO Box No 436, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Meenakshi Kushwaha
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI) Campus, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, India; Plant Ecology and Environmental Science Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, PO Box No 436, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Puneet Singh Chauhan
- Division of Plant Microbe Interactions, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, India
| | - Vivek Pandey
- Plant Ecology and Environmental Science Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, PO Box No 436, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Nandita Singh
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI) Campus, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, India; Plant Ecology and Environmental Science Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, PO Box No 436, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, Uttar Pradesh, India.
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Lohier T, Jabot F, Weigelt A, Schmid B, Deffuant G. Predicting stochastic community dynamics in grasslands under the assumption of competitive symmetry. J Theor Biol 2016; 399:53-61. [PMID: 27060673 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2016.03.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2015] [Revised: 03/22/2016] [Accepted: 03/29/2016] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Community dynamics is influenced by multiple ecological processes such as environmental spatiotemporal variation, competition between individuals and demographic stochasticity. Quantifying the respective influence of these various processes and making predictions on community dynamics require the use of a dynamical framework encompassing these various components. We here demonstrate how to adapt the framework of stochastic community dynamics to the peculiarities of herbaceous communities, by using a short temporal resolution adapted to the time scale of competition between herbaceous plants, and by taking into account the seasonal drops in plant aerial biomass following winter, harvesting or consumption by herbivores. We develop a hybrid inference method for this novel modelling framework that both uses numerical simulations and likelihood computations. Applying this methodology to empirical data from the Jena biodiversity experiment, we find that environmental stochasticity has a larger effect on community dynamics than demographic stochasticity, and that both effects are generally smaller than observation errors at the plot scale. We further evidence that plant intrinsic growth rates and carrying capacities are moderately predictable from plant vegetative height, specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content. We do not find any trade-off between demographical components, since species with larger intrinsic growth rates tend to also have lower demographic and environmental variances. Finally, we find that our model is able to make relatively good predictions of multi-specific community dynamics based on the assumption of competitive symmetry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Théophile Lohier
- LISC-Laboratoire d'Ingénierie pour les Systèmes complexes, IRSTEA, 9 Avenue Blaise Pascal, CS 20085, 63178 Aubière, France.
| | - Franck Jabot
- LISC-Laboratoire d'Ingénierie pour les Systèmes complexes, IRSTEA, 9 Avenue Blaise Pascal, CS 20085, 63178 Aubière, France.
| | - Alexandra Weigelt
- Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Johannisallee 21-23, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Bernhard Schmid
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Guillaume Deffuant
- LISC-Laboratoire d'Ingénierie pour les Systèmes complexes, IRSTEA, 9 Avenue Blaise Pascal, CS 20085, 63178 Aubière, France.
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Corazza M, Tardella FM, Ferrari C, Catorci A. Tall Grass Invasion After Grassland Abandonment Influences the Availability of Palatable Plants for Wild Herbivores: Insight into the Conservation of the Apennine Chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata. Environ Manage 2016; 57:1247-1261. [PMID: 26899738 DOI: 10.1007/s00267-016-0679-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2015] [Accepted: 02/10/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Invasion of the tall grass Brachypodium genuense was observed in an area of the central Apennines (Italy) where the population size of Apennine chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata) was in strong decline. Since this dominant tall grass threatens biodiversity and forage quality, our hypothesis was that B. genuense abundance influenced that of palatable species for the chamois, depending on their functional traits and distribution patterns. Our sampling design used plots of 10 × 10 m and 1 × 1 m to investigate the plant community level and fine-scale interactions. We analyzed data using correlation, generalized linear models, and redundancy analyses. We found that B. genuense can reach high abundance values on the deepest soils. Its high cover value influences plant community composition by competitive exclusion of subordinate species and suppression of functional features because of temporal or spatial niche overlap. This leads to low cover of palatable species at a fine scale, and to poor pasture quality for chamois at a wider scale. Therefore, we postulated that B. genuense invasion, enhanced by long-term grazing cessation, may reduce the availability of palatable plants for Apennine chamois, especially below the potential timberline (1900-2000 m a.s.l.). The high abundance of B. genuense may amplify the effect of other negative factors, such as competition with red deer (Cervus elaphus) and climate change, in restricting the suitable habitat of the Apennine chamois to the higher sectors of the central Apennines. Thus, we suggested that B. genuense spread should be monitored carefully and plans to control its invasion should be implemented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcello Corazza
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 42, 40126, Bologna, Italy
| | - Federico Maria Tardella
- Research Unit of Plant Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management, School of Bioscience and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Via Pontoni 5, 62032, Camerino, MC, Italy.
| | - Carlo Ferrari
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 42, 40126, Bologna, Italy
| | - Andrea Catorci
- Research Unit of Plant Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management, School of Bioscience and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, Via Pontoni 5, 62032, Camerino, MC, Italy
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Violle C, Choler P, Borgy B, Garnier E, Amiaud B, Debarros G, Diquelou S, Gachet S, Jolivet C, Kattge J, Lavorel S, Lemauviel-Lavenant S, Loranger J, Mikolajczak A, Munoz F, Olivier J, Viovy N. Vegetation ecology meets ecosystem science: Permanent grasslands as a functional biogeography case study. Sci Total Environ 2015; 534:43-51. [PMID: 25908020 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.03.141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2014] [Revised: 03/21/2015] [Accepted: 03/30/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
The effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning has been widely acknowledged, and the importance of the functional roles of species, as well as their diversity, in the control of ecosystem processes has been emphasised recently. However, bridging biodiversity and ecosystem science to address issues at a biogeographic scale is still in its infancy. Bridging this gap is the primary goal of the emerging field of functional biogeography. While the rise of Big Data has catalysed functional biogeography studies in recent years, comprehensive evidence remains scarce. Here, we present the rationale and the first results of a country-wide initiative focused on the C3 permanent grasslands. We aimed to collate, integrate and process large databases of vegetation relevés, plant traits and environmental layers to provide a country-wide assessment of ecosystem properties and services which can be used to improve regional models of climate and land use changes. We outline the theoretical background, data availability, and ecoinformatics challenges associated with the approach and its feasibility. We provide a case study of upscaling of leaf dry matter content averaged at ecosystem level and country-wide predictions of forage digestibility. Our framework sets milestones for further hypothesis testing in functional biogeography and earth system modelling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cyrille Violle
- CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; CESAB/FRB, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
| | - Philippe Choler
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France; CNRS, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
| | - Benjamin Borgy
- CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; CESAB/FRB, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Eric Garnier
- CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; CESAB/FRB, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - Bernard Amiaud
- Université de Lorraine, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, UMR 1137, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, 54500, France; Inra, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, UMR 1137, Champenoux, 54280, France
| | - Guilhem Debarros
- Fédération des Conservatoires Botaniques Nationaux, 93511 Montreuil-sous-Bois, France
| | - Sylvain Diquelou
- Normandie Univ, France; UNICAEN, UMR Ecophysiologie Végétale Agronomie et nutrition NCS, F-14032 Caen, France; INRA, UMR 950 NCS, F-14032 Caen, France
| | | | - Claudy Jolivet
- Aix Marseille Université, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE), CNRS, IRD, Avignon Université, Campus St-Jérôme, Case 421, 13397 MARSEILLE Cedex 20, France
| | - Jens Kattge
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans Knoell Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sandra Lavorel
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France; CNRS, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Servane Lemauviel-Lavenant
- Normandie Univ, France; UNICAEN, UMR Ecophysiologie Végétale Agronomie et nutrition NCS, F-14032 Caen, France; INRA, UMR 950 NCS, F-14032 Caen, France
| | - Jessy Loranger
- CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 blv. de l'Université, Sherbrooke 2R1 J1K, Canada
| | - Alexis Mikolajczak
- Conservatoire Botanique National Alpin, domaine de Charance, 05000 Gap, France
| | - François Munoz
- University Montpellier 2, AMAP, Bd de la Lironde, TA A-51/PS2, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, St Louis Street, Pondicherry 605001, India
| | - Jean Olivier
- Fédération des Conservatoires Botaniques Nationaux, 93511 Montreuil-sous-Bois, France
| | - Nicolas Viovy
- Laboratoire des Sciences du climat et de l'Environnement (UMR 8212 CEA/CNRS/UVSQ), Orme des Merisiers, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
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