Assessing the Effects of Land-use Change on Plant Traits, Communities and Ecosystem Functioning in Grasslands: A Standardized Methodology and Lessons from an Application to 11 European Sites

Garnier, Éric; Lavorel, Sandra; Ansquer, Pauline; Castro, Helena; Cruz, Pablo; Doležal, Jiří; Eriksson, Ove; Fortunel, Claire; Freitas, Helena; Golodets, Carly; Grigulis, Karl; Jouany, Claire; Kazakou, Elena; Kigel, Jaime; Kleyer, Michael; Lehsten, Veiko; Lepš, Jan; Meier, Tonia; Pakeman, Robin J.; Papadimitriou, Maria; Papanastasis, V. P.; Quested, Helen M.; Quétier, Fabien; Robson, Matt; Roumet, Catherine; Rusch, Graciela M.; Skarpe, Christina; Sternberg, Marcelo; Theau, Jean-Pierre; Thébault, Aurélie; Vile, Denis; Zarovali, M. P.

doi:10.1093/aob/mcl215

Cited by 467 publications

(413 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Recent reviews have stressed the need for integrated efforts in studying emerging properties of plant traits on lower hierarchical levels of the plant individual and their scaling up at higher organizational levels of the population, community and the entire ecosystem (Sammul et al 2008). The analysis of clonal growth attributes at the scale of plant assemblages can make a contribution in this direction, because it is the relative composition and diversity (Wright et al 2006) of traits associated with ecological functions that can be scaled up to predict ecosystem functions (Reich et al 1992;Díaz and Cabido 2001;Garnier et al 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Clonal and Bud Bank Traits Vary in Correspondence with Soil Properties and Resource Acquisition Strategies? Patterns in Alpine Communities in the Scandian Mountains

et al. 2010

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Plant traits associated with resource acquisition strategies (specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf size and plant height) change along gradients of soil properties, being the most conservative in a resource-poor environment and the most dynamic in a resource-rich environment. Clonal attributes also vary along soil and other environmental conditions. We hypothesized that in alpine communities in the Scandian Mts. (1) the average composition of traits in a plant assemblage in terms of i) the predominance of different clonal growth organ types, ii) the number of buds in the bud bank, iii) the distribution of the bud-bank (above-and below ground), iv) the distance of lateral spread and v) the longevity of plant -offspring connections would change along a gradient of soil properties and (2) that this variation would be in correspondence with that of traits associated with resource acquisition strategies (SLA, LDMC, leaf size and plant height). Analysis of clonal and bud bank traits for species of alpine communities supported our first hypothesis: with decreasing soil quality the most common clonal growth organs were rhizomes, and there was a predominance of perennial bud banks located at the soil surface or below-ground, low rates of lateral spread and long persistence of plant -offspring connections. Our second hypothesis was partly supported. As predicted, at the level of the plant assemblage, these clonal and bud bank traits were positively associated with LDMC, and negatively with leaf size and plant height. These observations reinforce the hypotheses about trade-offs between acquisition and retention strategies in plants. The only result that was in contradiction with our expectations was the lack of correspondence between clonal and bud bank traits and SLA that could be attributed to errors associated to Folia Geobot (2011) 46:237-254 DOI 10.1007

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Clonal and Bud Bank Traits Vary in Correspondence with Soil Properties and Resource Acquisition Strategies? Patterns in Alpine Communities in the Scandian Mountains

et al. 2010

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“…100), despite substantial differences in stem anatomy among botanical families 244 , including those between non-monocotyledons and monocotyledons (where sheaths were measured). We used a data set of 422 herbaceous species collected in the field across Europe and Israel, and belonging to 31 botanical families 144 to parameterize linear relationships of StDMC to LDMC. The slopes of the relationship were significantly higher for monocotyledons than for other angiosperms (F = 12.3; P < 0.001); within non-monocotyledons, the slope for Leguminosae was higher than that for species from other families.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The global spectrum of plant form and function

Dı́az

Kattge

Cornelissen

et al. 2015

Nature

2,149

118

2,603

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Vascular plants are the main entry point for energy and matter into the Earth's terrestrial ecosystems. Their Darwinian struggle for growth, survival and reproduction in very different arenas has resulted in an extremely wide variety of form and function, both across and within habitats. Yet it has long been thought 1-8 that there is a pattern to be found in this remarkable evolutionary radiation-that some trait constellations are viable and successful whereas others are not.Empirical support for a strongly limited set of viable trait combinations has accumulated for traits associated with single plant organs, such as leaves 7,9-12 , stems 13,14 and seeds [15][16][17] . Evidence across plant organs has been rarer, restricted geographically or taxonomically, and often contradictory [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] . How tightly whole-plant form and function are restricted at the global scale remains unresolved.Here we present the first global quantitative picture of essential functional diversity of extant vascular plants. We quantify the volume, shape and boundaries of this functional space via joint consideration of six traits that together capture the essence of plant form and function: adult plant height, stem specific density, leaf size expressed as leaf area, leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen content per unit mass, and diaspore mass. Our dataset, based on a recently updated communal plant trait database 30 , covers 46,085 vascular plant species from 423 families and to our knowledge spans the widest range of growth-forms and geographical locations to date in published trait analyses, including some of the most extreme plant trait values ever measured in the field (Table 1, Extended Data Fig. 1). On this basis we reveal that the trait space actually occupied is strongly restricted as compared to four alternative null hypotheses. We demonstrate that plant species largely occupy a plane in the six-dimensional trait space. Two key trait dimensions within this plane are the size of whole plants and organs on the one hand, and the construction costs for photosynthetic leaf area, on the other. We subsequently show which sections of the plane are occupied, and how densely, by different growth-forms and major taxonomic groups. The design opportunities and limits indicated by today's global spectrum of plant form and function provide a foundation to achieve a better understanding of the evolutionary trajectory of vascular plants and help frame and test hypotheses as to where and Earth is home to a remarkable diversity of plant forms and life histories, yet comparatively few essential trait combinations have proved evolutionarily viable in today's terrestrial biosphere. By analysing worldwide variation in six major traits critical to growth, survival and reproduction within the largest sample of vascular plant species ever compiled, we found that occupancy of six-dimensional trait space is strongly concentrated, indicating coordination and trade-offs. Threequarters of trait variation is captured in a t...

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“…On the one hand, we showed that Ecobordure is efficient in revealing potential causes of the observed vegetation patterns. For grassland communities, it has been shown that ecological characteristics of plant species help to distinguish between differing land-use disturbance (Garnier et al, 2007). Based upon three complementary species groups with contrasted ecological requirements, Ecobordure can reveal a wide range of potential drivers but also aspects sometimes counter-intuitive.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecobordure: A flora-based indicator to assess vegetation patterns of field margins and infer its local drivers. Design in Brittany (France)

Alignier

Cœur

Lanoë³

et al. 2018

Ecological Indicators

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A B S T R A C TField margins are key landscape elements contributing to maintain biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Yet, their ecological value is often poorly assessed and restricted to landscape descriptors, e.g. density or structure of hedgerows. We introduce Ecobordure, a flora-based indicator designed to describe vegetation patterns of field margins and infer on drivers leading to these patterns, i.e. structure and management practices of field margins. Ecobordure first targets agricultural teachers and advisers, who want to learn and help students and farmers to learn about patterns and drivers of field margin vegetation, for promoting management practices favorable to this biodiversity. Here, we present the stages of the Ecobordure design and output validation. The first stage consisted of elucidating the relationship between vegetation composition and structural and management characteristics of field margins. Canonical Correspondence Analyses were performed on empirical datasets derived from field work in bocage regions of Brittany (north-western France). This first stage led to the selection of 31 reference species, quite common, easy-to-recognize and representative of i) the whole community and ii) a wide range of ecological attributes. The 31 reference species were classified in three groups sharing similar life history traits and ecological attributes: "forest-edge", "grassland" and "weed" species. The second stage consisted of the graphical representation of field margins in a triplot diagram, the "Ecobordure triangle", according to the relative percentage of the three species groups. The representation of the Ecobordure triangle was then refined through segmentation in seven sectors to facilitate the reading and interpretation of results. Finally, the output validation of the indicator was performed by testing the consistency between Ecobordure outputs and structural and management characteristics of field margins, using an independent dataset. Our results demonstrate that Ecobordure is a simple, efficient and reliable indicator allowing users to characterize vegetation patterns of field margins and identify potential drivers leading to these patterns. In its original form, Ecobordure can be applied to a broad spectrum of field margins in European bocage regions with temperate oceanic climate, on acidic to neutral soil. However, its use can be extended to other agricultural regions through adaptation of the species list. We conclude by giving some information about Ecobordure use and appropriation by end users. IntroductionBiodiversity in agricultural landscapes is associated with both seminatural elements, e.g. woodland and hedgerows, and productive even intensively-managed elements such as crop and grassland fields (Fahrig et al., 2011). All these elements are interspersed in landscapes and inter-related by structural relationships, ecological processes and agricultural management decisions (Burel and Baudry, 1999). Therefore, segregating areas for conservation cannot be the only way to ma...

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Assessing the Effects of Land-use Change on Plant Traits, Communities and Ecosystem Functioning in Grasslands: A Standardized Methodology and Lessons from an Application to 11 European Sites

Abstract: This work shows the applicability of a set of protocols that can be widely applied to assess the impacts of global change drivers on species, communities and ecosystems.

Cited by 467 publications

References 63 publications

Do Clonal and Bud Bank Traits Vary in Correspondence with Soil Properties and Resource Acquisition Strategies? Patterns in Alpine Communities in the Scandian Mountains

Do Clonal and Bud Bank Traits Vary in Correspondence with Soil Properties and Resource Acquisition Strategies? Patterns in Alpine Communities in the Scandian Mountains

The global spectrum of plant form and function

Ecobordure: A flora-based indicator to assess vegetation patterns of field margins and infer its local drivers. Design in Brittany (France)

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