Display omitted
•Coppicing, once common in broadleaved forests, was mostly abandoned after WWII.•We investigated long-term changes in both woody and herbaceous species composition.•The impact of ...coppice abandonment on vegetation composition was evaluated.•Conservation value of forests reduced considerably after the coppice abandonment.•To stop biodiversity loss, we propose the re-establishment of coppice management.
Coppicing, once a common type of management in European broadleaved forests, was abandoned in many places after WWII. This form of management provided a variety of structural and microclimatic conditions for tree and understorey vegetation. After the abandonment of this intensive management, succession towards mature close forests ensued, and suitable habitats for species ecologically connected to coppicing were reduced. In our study, we chose a region in central Europe where coppicing was the dominant type of forest management until the first half of the 20th century but was abandoned after WWII. We investigated long-term changes in both woody and herbaceous species composition in the Lower Morava UNESCO Biosphere Reserve using historical sources and vegetation plot resurveys from the 17th to the 21st century. The impact of coppice abandonment on vegetation composition and on the conservation value of forests was evaluated. Dominant tree species appeared to be very stable throughout the past four centuries, but changes occurred in their proportions. A shift from species rich oak–hornbeam woodland towards species poorer communities with increasing proportions of lime, ash and maple was observed after the abandonment of coppicing. The observed tendencies partly differed according to site and data source. The conservation value of forests was measured as the occurrence of red-list species, which were considerably reduced after coppice abandonment. To stop the process of biodiversity loss and support the goals of nature conservation, the re-establishment of coppice management is proposed.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Question: Dwarf shrub moorland dominated by ericaceous plants is a distinctive, internationally important feature of northwest Europe, with its stronghold in Scotland. There have been major declines ...in its condition and extent. How has moorland composition changed within Scotland over the past ca. 35 yr and what is the role of climate change, pollution and grazing in driving these changes? Location: Five hundred and forty locations across Scotland, UK. Methods: We used a long-term resurvey approach to assess change across Scottish moorlands. We relocated plots sampled ca. 35 yr previously in alpine heath, dry heath, wet heath and bog, and recorded vegetation species composition. We assessed change in species group richness and cover and mean Ellenberg values between surveys, using paired Mests. We used CCA with variation partitioning and regression analysis to analyse the vegetation data with spatial data sets on climate, pollution and grazing, to assess the role of each driver in driving vegetation changes. Results: Significant diversity and compositional changes between surveys were found for all habitat types, particularly alpine heath. Significant associations were found with climate (many variables), pollution (N and S) and herbivore number (primarily deer). Species richness generally increased, but several specialist species declined in cover, especially those associated with higher altitude habitats (e.g. Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Salix herbácea and alpine lichens). Many the most successful species are ubiquitous, e. g. the widespread grazing-and pollution-tolerant graminoids Anthoxanthum odoratum, Juncus squarrosus, Festuca rubra and Nardus stricta and the generalist mosses Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus and Hylocomium splendens. Conclusions: Diversity and composition of moorlands in Scotland have changed significantly over the ca. 35-yr period studied; the drivers of these changes are complex, with climate, pollution and grazing playing variable roles across habitats. The reduction in specialist species, homogenization of alpine heaths and declines in forb and lichen cover all represent negative changes in the biodiversity value of Scottish moorlands.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In mountain pastures worldwide, studies investigating vegetation changes due to long-term grazing and environmental changes are sparse, especially regarding the effects of changes in snowmelt ...patterns. The outstanding availability of historical vegetation data from Kyrgyz mountain pastures creates unique opportunities to study past and forecast future changes, making them ideal model ecosystems. Using a resurvey approach, we explored the response of mountain vegetation to management and environmental changes in the Western Tien-Shan to investigate whether plant communities of six vegetation types (ecozones) had changed over 42 years, whether changes were related to management or ecological causes and whether species' mean elevational ranges had changed. We assembled historic vegetation data (1973–1987) in six ecozones that were resurveyed annually from 2008 to 2015 and connected them with species' management-related traits and ecological indicator values. Overall, a homogenization of vegetation within and among ecozones was observed. Mountain steppe, meadow-steppe, and subalpine meadows showed the strongest convergence towards a dominance of mesic shrubs, related to increasing precipitation changing soil moisture and soil-salt regimes. In the high mountain steppe and the alpine ecozone, cushion dwarf shrubs increased, driven by increased soil moisture following faster snowmelt. Changes in the semidesert were related to highly variable spring soil moisture. Compositional changes accelerated over time. Mostly palatable species declined in abundance. More competitive unpalatable species replaced abundant (1973) unpalatable species. Mean elevation shifted significantly for 35 species (out of 136), with 60% shifting >100 m, more often upward (low and high elevations) than downward (mid-elevations). These mountain ecosystems seem more sensitive to changing precipitation than temperature- or grazing-induced changes, making climatic change a more important driver than management. Further adaptive management should consider the response of the vegetation to environmental changes and promote alternative land-use options to maintain ecosystem functioning. In mountain ecosystems worldwide, the observed acceleration of changes might go unnoticed, calling for long-term studies and global climate-vegetation-management interaction models.
Display omitted
•We address lacking long-term investigations of vegetation change in mountain pastures.•Repeated resurveys reveal shifts in montane vegetation in Central Asia.•Vegetation is homogenizing within and among ecozones, and changes accelerate.•Species mainly shift upwards at low and high elevations, at mid-elevations downwards.•Main drivers of change were precipitation variations and grazing pressure.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The contemporary state of functional traits and species richness in plant communities depends on legacy effects of past disturbances. Whether temporal responses of community properties to current ...environmental changes are altered by such legacies is, however, unknown. We expect global environmental changes to interact with land‐use legacies given different community trajectories initiated by prior management, and subsequent responses to altered resources and conditions. We tested this expectation for species richness and functional traits using 1814 survey‐resurvey plot pairs of understorey communities from 40 European temperate forest datasets, syntheses of management transitions since the year 1800, and a trait database. We also examined how plant community indicators of resources and conditions changed in response to management legacies and environmental change. Community trajectories were clearly influenced by interactions between management legacies from over 200 years ago and environmental change. Importantly, higher rates of nitrogen deposition led to increased species richness and plant height in forests managed less intensively in 1800 (i.e., high forests), and to decreases in forests with a more intensive historical management in 1800 (i.e., coppiced forests). There was evidence that these declines in community variables in formerly coppiced forests were ameliorated by increased rates of temperature change between surveys. Responses were generally apparent regardless of sites’ contemporary management classifications, although sometimes the management transition itself, rather than historic or contemporary management types, better explained understorey responses. Main effects of environmental change were rare, although higher rates of precipitation change increased plant height, accompanied by increases in fertility indicator values. Analysis of indicator values suggested the importance of directly characterising resources and conditions to better understand legacy and environmental change effects. Accounting for legacies of past disturbance can reconcile contradictory literature results and appears crucial to anticipating future responses to global environmental change.
We tested whether the temporal response of temperate forest understorey plant community properties to current environmental change depends on management legacies. Using data from nearly two thousand plots situated across Europe, we showed that stands managed as coppice in 1800 (and shown in black) had a different response to those stands managed as high forest (shown in grey) regardless of their current management. Our results can help reconcile contradictory literature findings on biodiversity and functional trait responses across time, and demonstrate the need to consider the past when projecting community responses to current environmental change.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Species turnover is ubiquitous. However, it remains unknown whether certain types of species are consistently gained or lost across different habitats. Here, we analysed the trajectories of 1827 ...plant species over time intervals of up to 78 years at 141 sites across mountain summits, forests, and lowland grasslands in Europe. We found, albeit with relatively small effect sizes, displacements of smaller‐ by larger‐ranged species across habitats. Communities shifted in parallel towards more nutrient‐demanding species, with species from nutrient‐rich habitats having larger ranges. Because these species are typically strong competitors, declines of smaller‐ranged species could reflect not only abiotic drivers of global change, but also biotic pressure from increased competition. The ubiquitous component of turnover based on species range size we found here may partially reconcile findings of no net loss in local diversity with global species loss, and link community‐scale turnover to macroecological processes such as biotic homogenisation.
Our cross‐habitat synthesis reveals a ubiquitous component of biodiversity change in plant communities. We find directional temporal turnover towards plant species with larger geographic ranges across contrasting habitats. This turnover, likely driven in part by aspects of species niche, may help reconcile findings of no net loss in local diversity with global species loss, and link temporal turnover at the community scale to macroecological processes such as biotic homogenisation.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Ground squirrels act as important members of grassland ecosystems by serving as both ecosystem engineers and as a prey base for carnivores. There is mounting evidence that climate change is ...driving ground squirrel population declines. We resurveyed 54 historical localities throughout the Wyoming Basin and western Colorado where Wyoming Ground Squirrel (Urocitellus elegans) specimens were collected to investigate if climate change was driving extirpations at these historically occupied sites. We detected extirpations at 12 sites and used binomial generalized linear models in an information-theoretic framework to investigate if climate change was associated with these extirpations. Additionally, we investigated if land cover change was associated with persistence and if land cover ameliorated or exacerbated the effects of climate change. We found that changes in climate, especially increasingly dry summer air and increasing mean summer temperatures, were associated with a reduced probability that U. elegans persisted at a historically occupied site. In addition, we found that current forest cover at a site and increasing rangeland cover at the regional level were associated with reduced probability that U. elegans persisted, although these associations were weaker than the climate associations. The effects of climate change and land cover change did not interact. Our findings build on mounting evidence that montane-associated ground squirrels throughout the Western United States are negatively impacted by climate change. The reduction in ground squirrel abundance or their extirpation due to climate change could lead to changes in ecosystem structure or reductions in trophic complexity.
We resurveyed historical localities throughout the Wyoming Basin and western Colorado where Wyoming Ground Squirrel, Urocitellus elegans, specimens were collected to investigate if climate or land cover change was driving extirpations at these historically occupied sites.
Questions: Did high densities of wild ungulates cause a decline in plant species richness in a temperate oak wood? How did species composition change after nearly five decades? Did ungulates ...facilitate the spread of ruderal species and supress endangered species? Did dispersal strategies play a role in these processes? Location: Krumlov Wood, SE Czech Republic. Methods: In 2012, we resampled 58 quasi-permanent vegetation plots first surveyed in the 1960s. Between the surveys, 36 plots were enclosed in a game preserve with artificially high density of ungulates (mostly deer, mouflon and wild boar; ca. 55 animals-km⁻²). We analysed the differences in temporal changes between plots inside and outside the game preserve, focusing on species diversity and composition. We assessed species characteristics relevant to grazing to understand compositional changes. Results: Ungulates significantly increased α-and γ-diversity and caused significant vegetation homogenization inside the game preserve. Vegetation homogenization and the increase in species richness resulted from massive enrichment with ruderal species. However, richness of endangered species decreased. Species dispersed by animals internally (endozoochory) increased, while species dispersed externally (epizoochory) or by wind (anemochory) decreased. Conclusions: Contrary to our expectations, our long-term data showed that artificially high ungulate densities substantially increased plant species richness. Apparently, the establishment of ruderal herbs was supported by frequent disturbances and ungulate-mediated dispersal. At the same time, species richness of non-ruderal plants did not change, probably because ungulates hindered the regeneration of woody species and maintained an open forest canopy. In conclusion, high ungulate density led to the spread of ruderal species, which in turn strongly contributed to the observed shift towards nutrient-richer conditions and taxonomically more homogenous communities.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Long-term time series are increasingly used to assess the effects of global change on plant community diversity and to guide management of target plant communities. However, historical biodiversity ...data may contain neglected sources of error that can have a significant impact on the results and their interpretation. In our study, we focus on historical sampling error, a source of potential bias in long-term biodiversity assessments that has not been systematically addressed. We resampled two historical datasets of a different origin in the floodplain forests of the Czech Republic, with 534 vegetation plots originally sampled in the 1950s and 1960s. We compared temporal trends in alpha diversity and Ellenberg indicator values (EIVs) between the two parallel surveys. To assess compositional differences, we compared temporal changes in species frequencies. Alpha diversity increased by 9.3 % in one resurvey, but decreased by an average of 30.8 % in the second resurvey. The distribution of EIVs for plots also differed, indicating that each resurvey covered a different part of the environmental gradient. We conclude that preferential historical sampling of the vegetation-environment continuum and species omission may have contributed to the differences in biodiversity and environmental change between the datasets. Our study shows that historical sampling error can have a significant impact on assessments of long-term biodiversity trends. We recommend that historical reference datasets should be critically assessed for potential sources of error in assessments of environmental change and management objectives.
•Here we estimate the impact of the historical sampling error in long-term vegetation resurveys.•We show that the influence of historical sampling error, which has not yet been addressed, can be a serious problem.•The resurvey of historical datasets in the same vegetation type and region can lead to different results regarding biodiversity trends and signals of environmental change.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
PDF
