Modelli interpretativi della distribuzione delle brughiere pedemontane ai fini gestionali.

Lo studio vuole contribuire alla conoscenza delle brughiere pedemontane a Calluna vulgaris (brugo) dell\u2019Italia settentrionale, ai fini di individuare elementi rilevanti per la gestione e la conservazione. L\u2019area di studio \ue8 compresa nella porzione collinare e planiziale della provincia di Como e in un breve tratto di quella di Milano. Sono stati impiegati i Generalized Linear Models per individuare quali tra le variabili ambientali interpretino pi\uf9 adeguatamente la distribuzione delle brughiere. Il modello finale indica un\u2019influenza positiva della geomorfologia (rilievi prealpini e depositi mindeliani), del bioclima (indice di Gams), della ricorrenza degli incendi e negativa del suolo (ultisols). La superficie potenzialmente occupata dalle brughiere corrisponde a circa il 7% del territorio attualmente a bosco, a prato oppure coltivato; tuttavia le brughiere si estendono oggi su meno dell\u20191% di questa superficie. La copertura della canopy influisce negativamente sulla presenza delle brughiere, con valori di Leaf Area Index tra 1.5-2.3, rilevanti una progressiva riduzione nella frequenza di brugo. Si desume pertanto il complessivo carattere relittuale di questo tipo di vegetazione, da ricollegarsi al diffuso abbandono della gestione tradizionale.Emerge in definitiva la necessit\ue0 di dare ampio impulso ad attivit\ue0 che sostengono la conservazione e il ripristino delle brughiere

La vegetazione dell\u2019istituenda Riserva Naturale \u201cOasi di Lacchiarella\u201d (Parco Agricolo Sud Milano).

\uc8 stata studiata dal punto di vista fitosociologico la vegetazione della Riserva naturale Oasi di Lacchiarella. Sono state individuate 34 cenosi vegetali, ascrivibili a 12 classi fitosociologiche: Lemnetea, Potametea, Phragmiti-Magnocaricetea, Bidentetea tripartiti, Stellarietea mediae, Oryzetea sativae, Molinio- Arrhenatheretea,Galio-Urticetea, Alnetea glutinosae, Salicetea purpureae, Rhamno-Prunetea e Querco-Fagetea. Il grado di naturalit\ue0 e il valore floristico-vegetazionale \ue8 nel complesso basso, anche nelle formazioni boschive. Le cenosi si dispongono secondo un gradiente ecologico di umidit\ue0, caratterizzato da un progressivo svincolamento dalla falda. Le cenosi di piante infestanti o ruderali seguono una propria linea dinamico-evolutiva, pressoch\ue9 indipendente da quella di interramento dei corsi d\u2019acqua; entrambe comunque convergono verso le formazioni boschive

Quantifying the extent of plant functional specialization using Grime's CSR strategies

Specialization refers to a species adaptation to a restricted range of environmental conditions. While generalist species are able to exploit a wide variety of resources in a broad range of habitats, specialist species tend to have narrower niche breadths. From an evolutionary perspective, specialization is the result of a functional syndrome in which a suite of traits covary to allow the effective exploitation of specific resources. Accordingly, the measurement of specialization should be based on a multi-trait approach. In plant ecology, a well-known classification of the adaptive strategies of plants is Grime's competitor, stress tolerator, ruderal (CSR) theory in which the three principal strategies represent relatively easily measurable trait combinations from the global spectrum of plant form and function arising under conditions of competition, abiotic restriction to growth or periodic disturbance, respectively. In this paper, we thus introduce a method to summarize the functional specialization of plant species and communities by applying inequality measures to Grime's CSR strategies. The general idea is that a plant species that can be exclusively assigned to one CSR strategy can be considered a specialist (as it adopts only one adaptive strategy to access resources), while species that share functional characteristics of multiple CSR strategies can be considered more generalist. The behavior of the proposed measures is shown with one case study on the functional changes of six Alpine vegetation types ordered along a gradient, from pioneer to more stable communities

Estimating and comparing food availability for tree-seed predators in typical pulsed-resource systems: alpine conifer forests.

Alpine conifers produce pulsed resources for the community of tree-seed consumers. Here, we describe field and statistical methods to estimate spatio-temporal variation in seed-crops in forests with different species composition. Annual and between-site variation in seed production was high and characterised by occurrence of mast-crops followed by seed-crop failure the following year. Seed-crops of different species did not fluctuate in parallel. Please see also: Plant Biosystem 143(3), Page 643 for Corrigendu

The functional trait spectrum of European temperate grasslands

Questions: What is the functional trait variation of European temperate grasslands and how does this reflect global patterns of plant form and function? Do habitat specialists show trait differentiation across habitat types?. Location: Europe. Methods: We compiled 18 regeneration and non-regeneration traits for a continental species pool consisting of 645 species frequent in five grassland types. These grassland types are widely distributed in Europe but differentiated by altitude, soil bedrock and traditional long-term management and disturbance regimes. We evaluated the multivariate trait space of this entire species pool and compared multi-trait variation and mean trait values of habitat specialists grouped by grassland type. Results: The first dimension of the trait space accounted for 23% of variation and reflected a gradient between fast-growing and slow-growing plants. Plant height and SLA contributed to both the first and second ordination axes. Regeneration traits mainly contributed to the second and following dimensions to explain 56% of variation across the first five axes. Habitat specialists showed functional differences between grassland types mainly through non-regeneration traits. Conclusions: The trait spectrum of plants dominating European temperate grasslands is primarily explained by growth strategies which are analogous to the trait variation observed at the global scale, and secondly by regeneration strategies. Functional differentiation of habitat specialists across grassland types is mainly related to environmental filtering linked with altitude and disturbance. This filtering pattern is mainly observed in non-regeneration traits, while most regeneration traits demonstrate multiple strategies within the same habitat type.EL, BJA, MTI, AM, PI and CB acknowledge the research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 under REA grant agreement no. 607785, as a part of the NAtive Seed Science TEchnology and Conservation (NASSTEC) Initial Training Network (ITN). BJA was further funded by the Marie Curie Clarín‐COFUND program of the Principality of Asturias and the European Union (ACB17‐26). BJA and HB acknowledge support from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle–Jena–Leipzig funded by the German Research Foundation (DFTG FZT 118) through the sPlot research platform. PI acknowledges support from the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. KÖ thanks RO1567‐IBB03/2018 for financial support

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives