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Abstract: Ectomycorrhizal communities are rarely studied on seasonal basis, especially in poplar plantations. In this study we analysed the ectomycorrhizal community in a mature twenty-year-old white poplar (Populus alba L.) plantation during four consecutive seasons. Using morpho-anatomical and molecular identification 30 taxa of ectomycorrhizal fungi were recorded of which 15 were identified to the species level, 12 to the genus level, 2 to the family, and one morphotype of ectomycorrhizae remained unidentified. The most abundant among identified ectomycorrhizal fungi were: Inocybe griseovelata, Inocybe splendens, Tuber rufum, and Tomentella sp. 2, which together represented up to 50% of all ectomycorrhizal root tips. The number of ectomycorrhizal fungal taxa and the percentage of vital ectomycorrhizal root tips were highest in winter and spring, respectively. The diversity indices of ectomycorrhizae, number of vital ectomycorrhizal root tips, and total fine roots in the studied poplar plantation did not differ between seasons. Ectomycorrhizal fungi belonging to Inocybaceae family and the short-distance exploration strategy were dominant in all four seasons. On the other hand, the abundance of ectomycorrhizal root tips belonging to the medium-distance exploration strategy type was significantly higher in spring in comparison with autumn and winter.
Keywords: Populus alba L., Ectomycorrhizal diversity, morpho-anatomical characterization, molecular identification, seasons
Published in DiRROS: 03.12.2021; Views: 961; Downloads: 466
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Abstract: The structure and function of the soil microbiome of urban greenspaces remain largely undetermined. We conducted a global field survey in urban greenspaces and neighboring natural ecosystems across 56 cities from six continents, and found that urban soils are important hotspots for soil bacterial, protist and functional gene diversity, but support highly homogenized microbial communities worldwide. Urban greenspaces had a greater proportion of fast-growing bacteria, algae, amoebae, and fungal pathogens, but a lower proportion of ectomycorrhizal fungi than natural ecosystems. These urban ecosystems also showed higher proportions of genes associated with human pathogens, greenhouse gas emissions, faster nutrient cycling, and more intense abiotic stress than natural environments. City affluence, management practices, and climate were fundamental drivers of urban soil communities. Our work paves the way toward a more comprehensive global-scale perspective on urban greenspaces, which is integral to managing the health of these ecosystems and the well-being of human populations.
Keywords: soil biodiversity, structural diversity, functional diversity, urban soils
Published in DiRROS: 15.07.2021; Views: 1086; Downloads: 922
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Abstract: We analyzed variation in the functional composition and diversity of understory plant communities across different forest vegetation types in Slovenia. The study area comprises 10 representative forest sites covering broad gradients of environmental conditions (altitude, geology, light availability, soil type and reaction, nutrient availability, soil moisture), stand structural features and community attributes. The mean and variation of the trait values were quantified by community-weighted means and functional dispersion for four key plant functional traits: plant height, seed mass, specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content. At each study site, forest vegetation was surveyed at two different spatial scales (4 and 100 m2 ) in order to infer scale-dependent assembly rules. Patterns of community assembly were tested with a null model approach. We found that both trait means and diversity values responded to conspicuous gradients in environmental conditions and species composition across the studied forests. Our results mainly support the idea of abiotic filtering: more stressful environmental conditions (e.g., high altitude, low soil pH and low nutrient content) were occupied by communities of low functional diversity (trait convergence), which suggests a selective effect for species with traits adapted to such harsh conditions. However, trait convergence was also detected in some more resource-rich forest sites (e.g., low altitude, high soil productivity), most likely due to the presence of competitive understory species with high abundance domination. This could, at least to some extent, indicate the filtering effect of competitive interactions. Overall, we observed weak and inconsistent patterns regarding the impact of spatial scale, suggesting that similar assembly mechanisms are operating at both investigated spatial scales. Our findings contribute to the baseline understanding of the role of both abiotic and biotic constraints in forest community assembly, as evidenced by the non-random patterns in the functional structure of distinct temperate forest understories.
Keywords: functional composition, functional diversity, ecological gradients, abiotic filtering, trait convergence, trait divergence, spatial scale, forest ground-layer vegetation, Slovenia
Published in DiRROS: 26.05.2020; Views: 2047; Downloads: 1348
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Abstract: Analizirali smo možnosti zaznavanja drevesnih vrst v okviru Monitoringa gozdov in gozdnih ekosistemov (MGGE) s poudarkom na manjšinskih in tujerodnih drevesnih vrstah ter možnosti zaznavanja razlik v pestrosti drevesnih vrst med posameznimi ekološkimi regijami. Zaznavanje minoritetnih in tujerodnih drevesnih vrst bi lahko izboljšali z obsežnejšim šifrantom drevesnih vrst, katerega dopolnitve smo predlagali. Take drevesne vrste bi zajeli z večjo verjetnostjo pri gostejši vzorčni mreži od obstoječe (4 km % 4 km). Opozorili smo tudi na pomen pravilne determinacije drevesne vrste na vzorčni ploskvi. V okviru MGGE smo ugotovili razlike v pestrosti drevesnih vrst med ekološkimi regijami; kot najpestrejša se je pokazala submediteranska ekološka regija.
Keywords: monitoring gozdov, gozdna inventura, seznam drevesnih vrst, manjšinske drevesne vrste, tujerodne drevesne vrste, pestrost drevesnih vrst, tree species diversity, non-native tree species
Published in DiRROS: 02.05.2020; Views: 2560; Downloads: 754
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Abstract: The herbaceous understory represents a key component of forest biodiversity across temperate forests of Europe. Here, we quantified changes in the diversity and composition of the forest understory layer in representative Slovenian forest ecosystems between 2004/05 and 2014/15. In total, 60 plots were placed across 10 different managed forest types, ranging from lowland deciduous and mid-altitude mesic mixed forests to mountain conifer forests. This network is part of an international network of sites launched within the ICP Forests Programme aimed to assess the condition of forests in Europe. To examine how disturbance influenced understory dynamics, we estimated the disturbance impacts considering both natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances that cause significant damage to trees and to ground-surface layers, including ground-vegetation layers and upper-soil layers. Species richness across 10 sites (gamma diversity) significantly decreased from 272 to 243 species during the study period, while mean species richness per site did not significantly change. The mean value of site level Shannon diversity indices and evenness significantly increased. The cover of most common plant species increased during the monitoring period. The mean value of disturbance estimates per site increased from 0.8% in 2004/05 (ranging from 0% to 2.5%) to 16.3% in 2014/15 (ranging from 5.0% to 38.8%), which corresponded to a reduction in total vegetation cover, including tree-layer cover. More disturbed sites showed larger temporal changes in species composition compared to less disturbed sites, suggesting that forest disturbances caused understory compositional shifts during the study period. Rather than observing an increase in plant diversity due to disturbance, our results suggest a short-term decrease in species number, likely driven by replacement of more specialized species with common species.
Keywords: vegetation dynamics, vascular-plant diversity, understory layer, disturbance, monitoring, temperate forests
Published in DiRROS: 27.11.2019; Views: 2481; Downloads: 1499
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