20.500.12556/DiRROS-16365 Are ecological niche optimum and width of forest plant species related to their functional traits? The ecological niche is one of the central concepts in plant ecology. Understanding which biological traits influence plant niches remains limited, preventing large-scale generalizations. Using a representative pool of 94 herb-layer species frequently occurring in the Slovenian forest vegetation types and an extensive suite of 28 plant functional traits, we tested whether traits serve as predictors for the optimum and width of plant species ecological niche. Niche optimum (mean) and niche width (standard deviation) of each species were derived from community-level ecological indicator values for six environmental gradients, i.e., light, temperature, continentality, moisture, soil reaction and nutrients. We investigated relationships between niche parameters and functional traits through a random forest analysis to account for relatively high trait correlations. Our results suggest that niche optimum and width of forest plant species are related to their functional traits. The two niche parameters were best explained by similar set of traits; however, the relative importance of traits differed substantially. Traits associated with disturbances (frequency and severity), plant dispersal (seed mass, dispersal syndrome), leaf economics spectrum (specific leaf area) and life strategy (CSR scores) showed the highest overall significance in predicting niche optimum and width. Functional traits were, on average, better predictors for niche optimum (average variance explained across all six environmental factors: 20.2%) than for niche width (average variance explained: 7.7%). Intraspecific trait variability, not considered in this study, likely plays an important role in case of niche width. The analyses suggest that, while not all traits impact niche parameters to the same degree, it is crucial to consider traits representing different ecological dimensions and revealing leading patterns of trait coordination. We recommend that the relative importance of traits for species niche parameters should be tested on a larger spatial scale using broader pool of forest understory plants across Europe. ecological gradients Ellenberg indicator values Slovenian forest types trait-environment relationship understory plants Ellenbergove vrednosti indikatorjev Slovenski gozdni tipi pritalne rastline okolje true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2023-03-09 10:12:58 2023-03-09 10:13:00 2023-03-10 03:43:13 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2023 0 0 12 str. [article no.] ǂ152247 Vol. 301 2023 0000-00-00 NiDoloceno Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2023-01-01 630*18 0367-2530 10.1016/j.flora.2023.152247 144571651 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0367253023000373?via%3Dihub 1 21ca1494-be52-11ed-b359-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=21938 RAZ_Kermavnar_Janez_2023.pdf RAZ_Kermavnar_Janez_2023.pdf 1 B8083FBBCEF61084D6BEFBCF0E5813B4 4156475fcfbe29a5fcc0632dd783809ad08ae2d8d683cebfef84efdf756ca2b7 3a3e352e-be52-11ed-b359-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=21939 Gozdarski inštitut Slovenije 0 0 0