1. Congruence between vascular plants and bryophytes in response to ecological conditions in sustainably managed temperate forests (taxonomic- and trait-based levels)Lado Kutnar, Janez Kermavnar, Marko S. Sabovljević, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Vascular plant species (VP) and bryophytes (B) constitute a significant portion of forest biodiversity and respond to both management intensity and natural disturbances within forests. In this study, we investigated the cross-taxa congruence between understorey VP and B at both diversity and composition levels across a wide range of sustainably managed forests in Slovenia. The taxonomic and functional characteristics of the selected plant groups were studied, with a particular emphasis on ground-dwelling species. We employed a trait-based approach to examine the functional characteristics. On average, the species richness of B in sustainably managed temperate forests increased with the corresponding number of VP. Furthermore, a moderate positive correlation in species composition between the studied groups of ground-dwelling organisms was also observed. The ground-dwelling VP and B were congruent in terms of trait-based composition, which was influenced by soil reaction and nutrients and light availability, while trait-based diversity was only slightly similar in response to moisture. A negative correlation between the composition of stress-tolerant VP and B hemeroby was found, indicating forest environments with a low level of disturbance. This is likely due to the sustainable management of Slovenian forests, where climate change and natural disturbances have intensified in recent years. A cross-taxon comparison of the two groups at four different levels, namely taxonomic-based diversity and composition and trait-based diversity and composition, revealed varying degrees of congruence. It is therefore important to monitor the status and temporal trends of both groups from different aspects to draw reliable conclusions.
Ključne besede: understory, mosses, terricolous species, diversity, composition, taxonomy, life-history traits, environmental gradients, managed forest, ICP Forests program, Slovenia
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 10.10.2023; Ogledov: 465; Prenosov: 172
 Celotno besedilo (2,04 MB)
Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
2. Climate change and disturbances will shape future temperate forests in the transition zone between Central and SE EuropeLado Kutnar, Janez Kermavnar, Anže Martin Pintar, 2021, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: It is expected that climate change as well as abiotic and anthropogenic disturbances will strongly influence temperate forests. Besides changes in the main climate variables, various disturbance factors may significantly worsen conditions for mesic Slovenian forests (SE Europe) dominated by European beech (Fagus sylvatica), Norway spruce (Picea abies) and European silver fir (Abies alba). In Slovenia, the climate has warmed in recent decades, with an average annual rate of increase of about 0.4°C per decade or even more than 0.5°C per decade in summer. In addition, disturbances have caused considerable damage to trees in the most extensive forest types in Slovenia, starting with a widespread ice storm in 2014, followed by bark beetle outbreaks, windthrows and salvage logging interventions. After 2014, salvage logging increased from about one third to two thirds of the total annual felling. Over the last two decades, we have observed a decline in Norway spruce growing stock, with the highest rate of decrease in areas below 500 m a.s.l., and an increasing trend for European beech. Overall, the three dominant species (beech, spruce, silver fir), which together account for more than 70% of the total growing stock, have shown a declining trend over the last 20 years. The patterns observed are broadly consistent with earlier predictions developed for different climate change scenarios and with those reported in many other European countries. Adaptive forest management, which implements close-to-nature silviculture, has been traditionally practised in the region under study and has the potential to play an important role in reducing the risks associated with the impacts of climate change and disturbances in the future.
Ključne besede: climate warming, disturbance factors, ice storm, bark beetle outbreaks, spruce decline, salvage logging, tree species composition, temperate forest, Slovenia
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 03.01.2022; Ogledov: 731; Prenosov: 621
Celotno besedilo (2,55 MB)
Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
3. Green space area and type affect bird communities in a South-eastern European cityMaarten De Groot, Katarina Flajšman, Tomaž Mihelič, Urša Vilhar, Primož Simončič, Andrej Verlič, 2021, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Urbanization decreases the species richness and results in the homogenization of bird communities. Bird species are important indicator species for biodiversity and reflect the habitat quality of urban forests and other green spaces. In this study we investigated the key drivers that influence bird communities in urban forests and green spaces in the Southeastern European city of Ljubljana, Slovenia. We were interested in how the number of species, species dissimilarity and indicator species are affected by the type of green space (urban forest vs park), area of green space and type of urbanization (urban vs peri-urban areas). We sampled birds twice in 2012 in 39 standardized point counts across Ljubljana. We found that the abundance was influenced by the area of the green space. Species dissimilarity and species turnover are affected by the area and type of green space. Interestingly, the analysis showed that the species composition of peri-urban areas was similar to that of urban areas. Indicator species were found for all environmental variables. On the basis of the results, we suggest the strategy that would increase the diversity of birds and increase the stability of their populations in urban areas. Urban planners should encourage 1) both forests and parks since they harbour different species of birds, 2) larger green spaces since larger areas have species that are more typical of larger areas and 3) a mosaic of a larger number of smaller forest remnants combined with larger forest complex serving as source areas.
Ključne besede: urban forest, bird species composition, forest remnant, urbanization, peri-urban forest, bird monitoring, species richness
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 14.06.2021; Ogledov: 1209; Prenosov: 567
Celotno besedilo (842,93 KB)
Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
4. Patterns of understory community assembly and plant trait-environment relationships in temperate SE European forestsJanez Kermavnar, Lado Kutnar, 2020, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: 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.
Ključne besede: functional composition, functional diversity, ecological gradients, abiotic filtering, trait convergence, trait divergence, spatial scale, forest ground-layer vegetation, Slovenia
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 26.05.2020; Ogledov: 1890; Prenosov: 1261
Celotno besedilo (4,12 MB)
Gradivo ima več datotek! Več... |
5. Structure, development and growth of selection forests at the Granata research siteMatej Reščič, Andrej Bončina, 2007, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: The Granata research site was established for the study of structure, growth and regeneration of silver fir-European beech single stem selection forest. Three phytocoenological relevés were carried out, all trees ?5 cm diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) were measured by full callipering, tree growth was analysed for sample trees, regeneration of tree species was registered on 63 sampling plots. In addition, historical data from past forest inventories werestudied. In the period from 1952 to 2003, the share of silver fir has decreased from 86% to 26%, the share of Norway spruce increased significantly,whereas the share of beech and sycamore has slightly increased. The current growing stock amounts to 350 m3 ha-1, with large-size diameter trees (d.b.h. ?50 cm) representing 51% of total growing stock. The site is divided into 16 stand patches with significant differences in tree species composition and diameter distribution. Regeneration is sufficient with silver fir prevailing in total number of seedlings (42%). 23% of all seedlings are damaged as a result of game browsing.
Ključne besede: selection forest, plenterwald, selection system management, stand structure, tree species composition, regeneration, diameter distribution
Objavljeno v DiRROS: 12.07.2017; Ogledov: 4757; Prenosov: 2034
Celotno besedilo (558,46 KB) |
