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Title:Patterns of understory community assembly and plant trait-environment relationships in temperate SE European forests
Authors:ID Kermavnar, Janez (Author)
ID Kutnar, Lado (Author)
Files:.pdf PDF - Presentation file, download (4,12 MB)
MD5: AA66E7870249E821935A61D5C9DD8B0F
 
URL URL - Source URL, visit https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/12/3/91
 
Language:English
Typology:1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:Logo SciVie - Slovenian Forestry Institute
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
Publication status:Published
Publication version:Version of Record
Year of publishing:2020
Number of pages:23 str.
Numbering:Vol. 12, article 91
PID:20.500.12556/DiRROS-11957 New window
UDC:630*23(045)=111
ISSN on article:1424-2818
DOI:10.3390/d12030091 New window
COBISS.SI-ID:5649318 New window
Note:Nasl. iz nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 26. 3. 2020;
Publication date in DiRROS:26.05.2020
Views:1846
Downloads:1243
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Record is a part of a journal

Title:Diversity
Shortened title:Diversity
Publisher:MDPI
ISSN:1424-2818
COBISS.SI-ID:517523737 New window

Document is financed by a project

Funder:EC - European Commission
Name:Forest Focus Programme

Funder:ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
Funding programme:Shema mladega raziskovalca
Project number:10000-18-0404
Name:MR

Funder:ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
Project number:P4-0107
Name:Gozdna biologija, ekologija in tehnologija

Licences

License:CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Link:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Description:This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
Licensing start date:04.03.2020
Applies to:Version of Record (VoR)

Secondary language

Language:Undetermined
Keywords:funkcionalna sestava, funkcionalna pestrost, ekološki gradienti, abiotski filtri, konvergenca funkcionalnih znakov, divergenca funkcionalnih znakov, prostorsko merilo, pritalna gozdna vegetacija, Slovenija


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