Natura 2000 is a network of protected areas covering Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats. Recently, biota belonging to these networks have been threatened by both climate ...change and various human impacts. Regular monitoring is needed to ensure effective protection and proper management measures in these sites and habitats, but conventional field approaches are often time-consuming and inaccurate. New approaches and studies with different focuses and results are being developed. Our approach includes point data from field research and phytosociological databases as starting points for automatic segmentation, which has been developed just recently as a novel method that could help to connect ground-based and remote sensing data. Our case study is located in Central Slovakia, in the mountains around the village of Čierny Balog. The main aim of our case study is to apply advanced remote sensing techniques to map the area and condition of vegetation units. We focus on forest habitats belonging mainly to the Natura 2000 network. We concentrated on the verification of the possibilities of differentiation of various habitats using only multispectral Sentinel-2 satellite data. Our software NaturaSat created by our team was used to reach our objectives. After collecting data in the field using phytosociological approach and segmenting the explored areas in the program NaturaSat, spectral characteristics were calculated within identified habitats using software tools, which were subsequently processed and tested statistically. We obtained significant differences between forest habitat types. Also, segmentation accuracy was tested by comparing closed planar curves of ground based filed data and software results. This provided promising results and validation of the methods used. The results of this study have the potential to be used in a wider area to map the occurrence and quality of Natura 2000 habitats.
Important influences of burrowing animals on ecosystems are reported from several environments. However, the impact of burrowing on alpine meadows has only been poorly studied. The largest and most ...widespread burrowing animals living in an alpine region are marmots. We tried to answer the following questions: Do marmots cause structural and compositional changes in alpine plant communities? Do marmots have a significant effect on soil properties? Do vegetation types differ according to their dependency on the functional utilization of the burrow?
On a colony scale marmots significantly increased cover of herbs on next-to-burrow mound plots as opposed to on burrow and control plots, while they decreased cover of graminoids, lichens, and litter, which were the highest on sites without marmot activities. Equitability increased gradually in direction from controls, next-to-burrow mound plots to burrow plots. Simultaneously, marmots increased N, Mg and K on next-to-burrow mound plots as opposed to on burrow and control plots.
Biopedturbation by marmots contributes to creating the gradient of vegetation between marmot free meadows and disturbed habitats. Tatra marmots encourage settlement of moisture and light-demanding plants with larger requirements for soil depth on their burrow mounds. On next-to-burrow mound plots they support acidophilous vegetation with grazing- and trampling-resistant or grazing-tolerant species. A considerable higher content of P was present directly on the mounds compared to next-to-burrow mound plots.
Marmot activities alter soil properties, reduce the dominance of common species and thereby enhance community diversity. Their effects, depending on the volume and nature of their activities, are the strongest on hibernation and maternal burrows and their surroundings. Our results demonstrate the key role of environment-marmot interactions in alpine ecosystems and landscape development.
•Marmots cause structural and compositional changes in alpine plant communities.•They increase equitability of alpine vegetation and site heterogeneity.•These rodents have a significant effect on concentration of Ntot, Mg, K and P.•Their effects are the strongest on hibernation and maternal burrows.•Zoogeomorphic impact of marmots has significant effect on the gradient of vegetation.
Land cover maps are the basic data layer required for understanding and modeling ecological patterns and processes. The Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM), produced in 2003, has been widely ...used as a base map for studies in the arctic tundra biome. However, the relatively coarse resolution and vector format of the map were not compatible with many other data sets. We present a new version of the CAVM, building on the strengths of the original map, while providing a finer spatial resolution, raster format, and improved mapping. The Raster CAVM uses the legend, extent and projection of the original CAVM. The legend has 16 vegetation types, glacier, saline water, freshwater, and non-arctic land. The Raster CAVM divides the original rock-water-vegetation complex map unit that mapped the Canadian Shield into two map units, distinguishing between areas with lichen- and shrub-dominated vegetation. In contrast to the original hand-drawn CAVM, the new map is based on unsupervised classifications of seventeen geographic/floristic sub-sections of the Arctic, using AVHRR and MODIS data (reflectance and NDVI) and elevation data. The units resulting from the classification were modeled to the CAVM types using a wide variety of ancillary data. The map was reviewed by experts familiar with their particular region, including many of the original authors of the CAVM from Canada, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway (including Svalbard), Russia, and the U.S. The analysis presented here summarizes the area, geographical distribution, elevation, summer temperatures, and NDVI of the map units. The greater spatial resolution of the Raster CAVM allowed more detailed mapping of water-bodies and mountainous areas. It portrays coastal-inland gradients, and better reflects the heterogeneity of vegetation type distribution than the original CAVM. Accuracy assessment of random 1-km pixels interpreted from 6 Landsat scenes showed an average of 70% accuracy, up from 39% for the original CAVM. The distribution of shrub-dominated types changed the most, with more prostrate shrub tundra mapped in mountainous areas, and less low shrub tundra in lowland areas. This improved mapping is important for quantifying existing and potential changes to land cover, a key environmental indicator for modeling and monitoring ecosystems. The final product is publicly available at www.geobotany.uaf.edu and at Mendeley Data, DOI: 10.17632/c4xj5rv6kv.1.
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•Raster version of the highly-cited Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM)•Same extent and same legend (16 land cover units) as vector CAVM, 1-km resolution•More accurate mapping of water-bodies, mountainous areas, coastal-inland gradients•Landsat accuracy assessment average of 70%, up from 39% for the original CAVM
The NaturaSat software integrates various image processing techniques together with vegetation data, into one multipurpose tool that is designed for performing facilities for all requirements of ...habitat exploration, all in one place. It provides direct access to multispectral Sentinel-2 data provided by the European Space Agency. It supports using these data with various vegetation databases, in a user-friendly environment, for, e.g., vegetation scientists, fieldwork experts, and nature conservationists. The presented study introduces the NaturaSat software, describes new powerful tools, such as the semi-automatic and automatic segmentation methods, and natural numerical networks, together with validated examples comparing field surveys and software outputs. The software is robust enough for field work researchers and stakeholders to accurately extract target units’ borders, even on the habitat level. The deep learning algorithm, developed for habitat classification within the NaturaSat software, can also be used in various research tasks or in nature conservation practices, such as identifying ecosystem services and conservation value. The exact maps of the habitats obtained within the project can improve many further vegetation and landscape ecology studies.
Objectives: We followed the long-term changes of softwood floodplain forests strongly altered by water regime changes and examine the behaviour of neophytes in this environment. Here we ask: (1) How ...did the composition of neophyte and native species change? (2) How did the presence of species that prefer wetter conditions change? (3) What traditionally distinguished type of softwood floodplain forests (a wetter one or a more mesophilous one) do neophytes prefer? (4) What environmental factors affect the native species richness and the occurrence and cover of neophytes? Materials and Methods: Historical and recent phytosociological relevés of the association Salicetum albae of the Slovak part of the inland delta of the Danube River were used (177 plots together). For each plot, the number and cover of neophytes and number of native species were measured, and the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, the stand structure (cover of tree, shrub and herb layer) and the mean of Ellenberg indicator values were calculated and compared among time periods. Temporal trends of the soil moisture characterized by indicator values calculated for each plot were determined using a Linear Model. The synoptic table of traditional vegetation types was done to show preferences of neophytes for particular softwood forest types. The effect of site conditions on native species richness and occurrence of neophytes was determined using the Generalized Linear Model. Results: The relative number and cover of neophyte species increased and the absolute number of native species decreased over time; the vegetation of the area has changed from variable hygrophilous and mesophilous to homogenised mesophilous; most non-native species prefer the mesophilous vegetation of the floodplain forests; the wetter parts of the floodplain more successfully resisted invasions. Conclusions: The vegetation of the researched area has considerably changed over time to become less diverse and less hygrophilous, and has more invasive species. To preserve floodplain forests, natural hydrological and connectivity patterns should be adequately protected.
Aims
River gravel bars are endangered habitats in Europe. However, classification schemes of their vegetation and habitat types differ among European countries, and they are even ignored in some ...national schemes. This causes problems in conservation planning, monitoring and management. Hence we aimed at building the first unified vegetation classification for river gravel‐bar habitats across European mountain systems.
Location
Europe.
Methods
In total 4,769 vegetation plot records of river gravel‐bar plant communities were collected from national, regional or private databases, digitized from the literature and newly collected in the field. A hierarchical classification expert system with formal definitions of vegetation types was created. The definitions combined the criteria of presence or cover of groups of species with similar ecology or single species narrowly specialized to a particular gravel‐bar habitat. The TWINSPAN classification was applied to early‐successional vegetation types to check whether the classification based on formal definitions was supported by the results of unsupervised classification. Similarity patterns among vegetation types were visualized using the detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) ordination.
Results
Early‐successional and scrub gravel‐bar vegetation types were respectively classified into two classes: Thlaspietea rotundifolii and Salicetea purpureae. Eleven associations and four alliances (Calamagrostion pseudophragmitae, Epilobion fleischeri, Salicion cantabricae and Salicion eleagno‐daphnoidis) were defined formally. Based on a critical revision, some associations or alliances defined in the previous literature were merged or discarded. The main gradient in variability within the gravel‐bar vegetation is connected with the altitudinal gradient, biogeographical variation, local hydromorphological processes and various successional changes.
Conclusions
The first unified and formalized classification system of the European mountain river gravel‐bar vegetation was created, and species composition, ecology and distribution of these types were characterized. The syntaxonomical nomenclature of these types was checked and revised. This study provides a base for conservation planning of these threatened and rapidly disappearing habitats.
We created the first unified classification of river gravel‐bar vegetation of European mountains. We classified the early‐successional and scrub vegetation to two classes, Thlaspietea rotundifolii and Salicetea purpureae, respectively. We further characterized the species composition, ecology and distribution of associations and alliances and revised the syntaxonomical nomenclature, providing a base for conservation planning of these rapidly disappearing habitats.
Ecological theory predicts close relationships between macroclimate and functional traits. Yet, global climatic gradients correlate only weakly with the trait composition of local plant communities, ...suggesting that important factors have been ignored. Here, we investigate the consistency of climate-trait relationships for plant communities in European habitats. Assuming that local factors are better accounted for in more narrowly defined habitats, we assigned > 300,000 vegetation plots to hierarchically classified habitats and modelled the effects of climate on the community-weighted means of four key functional traits using generalized additive models. We found that the predictive power of climate increased from broadly to narrowly defined habitats for specific leaf area and root length, but not for plant height and seed mass. Although macroclimate generally predicted the distribution of all traits, its effects varied, with habitat-specificity increasing toward more narrowly defined habitats. We conclude that macroclimate is an important determinant of terrestrial plant communities, but future predictions of climatic effects must consider how habitats are defined.
The importance of environmental difference among sites and dispersal limitations of species to the explanation of diversity differs among biological systems and geographical regions. We hypothesized ...that climate and then dispersal limitation will predominantly explain the similarity of alpine vegetation at increasing distances between pairs of regions at subcontinental extent. We computed the similarity of all pairs of 23 European mountain regions below 50° N after dividing the species lists of each region by calcareous or siliceous substrates. Distance decay in similarity was better fitted by a cubic polynomial than a negative exponential function, and the fit was better on calcareous than on siliceous substrate. Commonality analysis revealed that the proportion of explanation of beta diversity by climatic difference had unimodal patterns on a gradient of increasing distance between regions, while explanation by dispersal limitation had consistently rising patterns on both substrates. On siliceous substrate, dispersal limitation explained more of the variation in beta diversity only at longer distances, but it was predominant at all distances on calcareous substrate. The steeper response to distance at <1600 km and >2600 km may indicate dispersal limitation at different temporal scales, and the uptick in the response to distance at the longest distances may reflect how isolated some regions have been before and since the last glacial maximum.
•Different disturbances resulted in different species composition and site heterogeneity.•Clonal plants made up more than 90% of the understory vegetation cover for all treatments.•Heterogeneity due ...to disturbances did not impact clonal plant dominance, but clonal plant growth and integration did differ.•More heterogeneous sites had higher numbers of ramets and lengths between ramets, but this was species specific.
Clonal plants confer a range of ecologically important traits related to local heterogeneity (e.g., foraging and integration). Disturbances generally impact heterogeneity at a variety of scales, but there is a paucity of research linking disturbance, heterogeneity, and clonal plant response. Further, there is a growing need to understand how different plants respond to changing disturbance regimes if stewards want to predict ecosystem response and successfully manage public lands. Thus, we examined clonal plant response to disturbance in the Tatra Mountains (Western Carpathians, Slovakia and Poland) at both the community and population levels. We collected 30 plots (10 m × 10 m) of data from four disturbance site types (DR = windthrow and not salvaged; DS = windthrow salvaged; NF = Forest without gap; NG = forest with canopy gap) in the Western Carpathians. Collected data included cover of all species, heterogeneity metrics, soil temperature 10 cm beneath the surface and clonal connectedness data (through dye experiments on selected species). Windthrow (DR) sites that were not salvaged had the greatest heterogeneity while forest sites with full canopy cover (NF) had the least. We found distinct differences in community composition and structure among the four treatments; however, floristic clonal dominance and the type of clonal growth organ did not change but made up over 90% of cover throughout. Clonal integration was related to disturbance and heterogeneity for Calamagrostis villosa and Rubus idaeus; R. idaeus had greater distances among ramets in the more heterogenous windthrown sites. Clonal plant growth was also related to compositional richness for C. villosa, having greater numbers of ramets under higher diversity pressure. These data suggest the dominance of clonal plants in the understory of mountain spruce forests in the Tatras are responding to changes in heterogeneity through growth and integration but in a species-specific manner.
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