Sukcesija mediteranske serpentinske vegetacije u središnjoj Italiji

The mam plant communities of ultramafic (serpentine) outcrops of a Mediterranean area in central Italy are described and their successional pathway discussed. Four vegetation stages are distinguished: a) an endemic garigue stage, with high percentage of exposed rocky soil belonging to Armerio-Alyssetum bertolonii; b) a garigue stage similar to the previous one but with several Mediterranean evergreen shrubs; c) a closed evergreen maquis of Mediterranean type belonging to Viburno-Quercetum illicis subass. ericetosum; d) an evolved evergreen forest stage with some deciduous species belonging to the Viburno-Quercetum ilicis subass ornetosum. While the pioneer stages are characterised by several endemic serpentinophytes, adapted to the peculiar environmental conditions of ultramafic shallow soils, the more evolved vegetation stages, on the contrary, are typical of Mediterranean environments and do not show any serpentine characterisation.Opisuju se glavni tipovi vegetacije na serpentinima mediteranskog dijela središnje Italije i prikazuje se njihova sukcesija. Utvrđena su četiri vegetacijska stadija: a) endemičan garig na izrazito stjenovitoj podlozi, koji pripada zajednici Armerio-Alyssetum bertolonii; b) garig sličan prethodnom, ali sa rijetkim vazdazelcnim mediteranskim grmljem; c) vazdazelena makija mediteranskog tipa, koja pripada zajednici Vi- burno-Quercetum ilicis subass. ericetosum; d) vazdazelena šuma sa nešto listopadnih elemenata, koja pripada zajednici Viburno-Quercetum ilicis subass. ornetosum. Pionirski stadiji vegetacije okarakterizirani su sa nekoliko enemičnih serpentinofita, prilagođenih na osebujne uvjete života na plitkim serpentinskim tlima. Suprotno tome, razvijeniji vegetacijski stadiji tipični su za mediteransko područje i ne pokazuju nikakva serpentinska obilježja

The nature of vegetation science

Fil: Partel, Meelis. University of Tartu. Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences; EstoniaFil: Chiarucci, Alessandro. University of Siena. Department of Environmental Science ‘‘G. Sarfatti’’. BIOCONNET, Biodiversity and Conservation Network; ItaliaFil: Diaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Wilson, J. Bastow. University of Otago. Botany Department ; Nueva Zeland

Species–area relationships in continuous vegetation : evidence from Palaearctic grasslands

Aim: Species-area relationships (SARs) are fundamental scaling laws in ecology although their shape is still disputed. At larger areas power laws best represent SARs. Yet, it remains unclear whether SARs follow other shapes at finer spatial grains in continuous vegetation. We asked which function describes SARs best at small grains and explored how sampling methodology or the environment influence SAR shape. Location: Palaearctic grasslands and other non-forested habitats. Taxa: Vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens. Methods: We used the GrassPlot database, containing standardised vegetation-plot data from vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens spanning a wide range of grassland types throughout the Palaearctic and including 2057 nested-plot series with at least seven grain sizes ranging from 1 cm2 to 1024 m². Using non-linear regression, we assessed the appropriateness of different SAR functions (power, power quadratic, power breakpoint, logarithmic, Michaelis-Menten). Based on AICc, we tested whether the ranking of functions differed among taxa, methodological settings, biomes or vegetation types. Results: The power function was the most suitable function across the studied taxonomic groups. The superiority of this function increased from lichens to bryophytes to vascular plants to all three taxonomic groups together. The sampling method was highly influential as rooted-presence sampling decreased the performance of the power function. By contrast, biome and vegetation type had practically no influence on the superiority of the power law. Main conclusions: We conclude that SARs of sessile organisms at smaller spatial grains are best approximated by a power function. This coincides with several other comprehensive studies of SARs at different grain sizes and for different taxa, thus supporting the general appropriateness of the power function for modelling species diversity over a wide range of grain sizes. The poor performance of the Michaelis-Menten function demonstrates that richness within plant communities generally does not approach any saturation, thus calling into question the concept of minimal area

A new Vegetation-Plot Database for the Coastal Forests of Kenya

Biodiversity data based on standardised sampling designs are key to ecosystem conservation. Data of this sort have been lacking for the Kenyan coastal forests despite being biodiversity hotspots. Here, we introduce the Kenyan Coastal Forests Vegetation-Plot Database (GIVD ID: AF-KE-001), consisting of data from 158 plots, subdivided into 3,160 subplots, across 25 forests. All plots include data on tree identity, diameter and height. Abundance of shrubs is presented for 316 subplots. We recorded 600 taxa belonging to 80 families, 549 of which identified to species and 51 to genus level. Species richness per forest site varied between 43 and 195 species; mean diameter between 13.0 ± 9.8 and 30.7 ± 20.7 cm; and mean tree height between 5.49 ± 3.99 and 12.29 ± 10.61 m. This is the first plot-level database of plant communities across Kenyan coastal forests. It will be highly valuable for analysing biodiversity patterns and assessing future changes in this ecosystem. Taxonomic reference: African Plant Database (African Plant Database version 3.4.0). Abbreviations: DBH = diameter at breast height; GIVD = Global Index of Vegetation-Plot Databases; KECF-VPD = Kenyan Coastal Forests Vegetation Plot Database

Drivers of distance‐decay in bryophyte assemblages at multiple spatial scales: Dispersal limitations or environmental control?

Questions: Despite the increasing scientific interest in distance decay of compositional similarity in ecology, the scale dependence of geographical versus environmental control on distance decay of biological communities has not been properly addressed so far. The present work highlights the relative importance of niche-based processes versus dispersal limitations on distance decay patterns of epilithic bryophyte assemblages at different spatial scales. Location: Serra de Sintra, central Portugal. Methods: We adopted a nested sampling design with 32 selected sampling sites in each of which two clusters, each with five rocks, were surveyed. Each cluster was characterized by a set of 15 macroscale variables, which were divided into environmental and anthropogenic. For each rock eight microscale variables were recorded. Partial Mantel tests were used to assess the relative importance of geographical and environmental distance on community dissimilarity for each grain size (site, cluster, rock). Quantile regressions were used to describe the decay patterns of community similarity with respect to geographical and environmental distances. Ordination analyses and variation partitioning techniques were applied to assess the pure and shared effects of measured variables on bryophyte community composition. Results: Environmental distance based upon macroscale predictors was significantly correlated to community similarity, while no significant correlation was found for ecological distance calculated for microscale predictors, except at the largest grain size. The decrease of community similarity with geographical and environmental distance was thus consistently strengthened with increasing sample grain. Compositional variation was best explained by anthropogenic variables. Conclusions: The relative importance of environmental versus geographical distance on compositional similarity in epilithic bryophyte communities varies with the spatial scale of the predictors and with the sample grain. The decrease of similarity with increasing distance is related to changes in habitat features, especially those driven by human disturbance, while it is weakly affected by variations in substrate features.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Performance of nonparametric species richness estimators in a high diversity plant community

The efficiency of four nonparametric species richness estimators - first-order Jackknife, second-order Jackknife, Chao2 and Bootstrap - was tested using simulated quadrat sampling of two field data sets (a sandy 'Dune' and adjacent 'Swale') in high diversity shrublands (kwongan) in south-western Australia. The data sets each comprised > 100 perennial plant species and < 10 000 individuals, and the explicit (x-y coordinate) location of every individual. We applied two simulated sampling strategies to these data sets based on sampling quadrats of unit sizes 1/400th and 1/100th of total plot area. For each site and sampling strategy we obtained 250 independent sample curves, of 250 quadrats each, and compared the estimators' performances by using three indices of bias and precision: MRE (mean relative error), MSRE (mean squared relative error) and OVER (percentage overestimation). The analysis presented here is unique in providing sample estimates derived from a complete, field-based population census for a high diversity plant community. In general the true reference value was approached faster for a comparable area sampled for the smaller quadrat size and for the swale field data set, which was characterized by smaller plant size and higher plant density. Nevertheless, at least 15-30% of the total area needed to be sampled before reasonable estimates of St (total species richness) were obtained. In most field surveys, typically less than 1% of the total study domain is likely to be sampled, and at this sampling intensity underestimation is a problem. Results showed that the second-order Jackknife approached the actual value of St more quickly than the other estimators. All four estimators were better than Sobs (observed number of species). However, the behaviour of the tested estimators was not as good as expected, and even with large sample size (number of quadrats sampled) all of them failed to provide reliable estimates. First- and second-order Jackknives were positively biased whereas Chao2 and Bootstrap were negatively biased. The observed limitations in the estimators' performance suggests that there is still scope for new tools to be developed by statisticians to assist in the estimation of species richness from sample data, especially in communities with high species richness

Plant diversity changes in a nature reserve: a probabilistic sampling method for quantitative assessments

Species pool conservation is critical for the stability of ecosystem processes. However, climate and land use changes will likely affect biodiversity, and managers of protected areas are under increasing pressure to monitor native species diversity changes by approaches that are scientifically sound and comparable over time. Here we describe a plant diversity monitoring system in use since 2002 in the “Montagna di Torricchio” Nature Reserve (LTER_EU_IT_033), a Central Apennines representative area of 317 ha, most of which is under strict protection. The aim of this paper was to assess changes in plant species richness over time and to deduce the patterns of species assemblage. The monitoring system was based on a probabilistic sampling design representative of the different physiognomic vegetation types occurring in the Reserve. A total of 34 plots (10×10m) were sampled in 2002, 2003 and 2015, and their species presence/absence and relative coverage were estimated. Repeated measure ANOVA was used to test for plot-level and ecosystem-based changes in species richness along the study period. Temporal nestedness and temporal turnover metrics were used to assess patterns of species’ compositional changes. The results showed significantly different levels of species richness depending on the year, with the lowest value in 2003, probably linked to extreme drought events. Forest systems were comparatively stable, demonstrating the capacity to buffer interannual climate variability. Regarding compositional changes along the entire period (2002–2015), we found random patterns of both temporal nestedness and turnover, indicating stability in species composition. However, we also showed the contemporary occurrence of species loss and species replacement processes, considering the dry year 2003, a finding which should be further explored through fine-scale studies to unravel mechanisms of community assembly under drought. The use of a probabilistic sampling design representative of the different physiognomic vegetation types proved to be advantageous in monitoring the Nature Reserve vegetation and collecting reliable quantitative information. This data, in turn, provides the basis for improvements in management practices and proposed adaptation measures