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Query: "keywords" (floristic composition) .

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1.
Variation in floristic and trait composition along environmental gradients in the herb layer of temperate forests in the transition zone between Central and SE Europe
Janez Kermavnar, Lado Kutnar, Aleksander Marinšek, 2022, original scientific article

Abstract: Species- and trait-environment linkages in forest plant communities continue to be a frequent topic in ecological research. We studied the dependence of floristic and functional trait composition on environmental factors, namely local soil properties, overstory characteristics, climatic parameters and other abiotic and biotic variables. The study area comprised 50 monitoring plots across Slovenia, belonging to the EU ICP Forests monitoring network. Vegetation was surveyed in accordance with harmonized protocols, and environmental variables were either measured or estimated during vegetation sampling. Significant predictors of species composition were identified by canonical correspondence analysis. Correlations between plant traits, i.e. plant growth habit, life form, flowering features and CSR signature, were examined with fourth-corner analysis and linear regressions. Our results show that variation in floristic composition was mainly explained by climatic parameters (mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation), soil properties (pH) and tree layer-dependent light conditions. Trait composition was most closely related with tree layer characteristics, such as shade-casting ability (SCA, a proxy for light availability in the understory layer), tree species richness and tree species composition. Amongst soil properties, total nitrogen content and soil texture (proportion of clay) were most frequently correlated with different species traits or trait states. The CSR signature of herb communities was associated with tree layer SCA, soil pH and mean annual temperature. The floristic composition of the studied herb-layer vegetation depended on temperature and precipitation, which are likely to be influenced by ongoing climate change (warming and drying). Trait composition exhibited significant links to tree layer characteristics and soil conditions, which are in turn directly modified by forest management interventions.
Keywords: vegetation–environment relationship, floristic composition, life-history traits, herbaceous species, Slovenia
Published in DiRROS: 15.04.2022; Views: 638; Downloads: 395
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2.
Plant diversity of selected Quercus robur L. and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. forests in Slovenia
Lado Kutnar, 2006, original scientific article

Abstract: In Slovenia, the plant species diversity on 225 research plots dominated by pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) and by sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) has been analysed. Plots of Q. robur are located in five, andplots of Q. petraea in four semi-natural managed forest complexes. In the tree layer, 28 species were found beside the dominant two oak species, with Carpinus betulus L., Picea abies (L.) Karst., Quercus cerris L. and Fagus sylvatica L. having significant shares of growing stock. Based on the understorey vegetation (shrub and herb layer, terricolous mosses), the Ddetrended Correspondence Analysis (DdCA) made a clear distinction between plots with dominant Q. robur and those with Q. petraea. The understorey vegetation also proved to be a valuable indicator of the site conditions and of forest management in the past. Based on ordination, lowland pedunculate oak forests of relatively long standing near to natural management have been separated from the pedunculate oak forests where spruce was favoured by the forest management, and from the man-made pedunculate oak stands on primary sites of Q. petraea. DCA clearly differentiated the sessile oak forests in warmer climate of Sub-Mediterranean region, and in warmer meso-sites of Pre-Pannonian region from other sessile oak forests. The main gradients of vegetation structure and of species diversity, as well main ecological gradients in different oak forests were obtained by ordination technique.
Keywords: floristic composition, vegetation structure, biodiversity, growing stock
Published in DiRROS: 12.07.2017; Views: 4168; Downloads: 1783
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