Below‐ground opportunities in vegetation science

Wilson, Scott D.

doi:10.1111/jvs.12168

Cited by 32 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…The diversity, interactions and distribution of roots (Hiiesalu et al. ) and dormant, perennating organs (Wilson & Tilman ) regulate species co‐existence, diversity and structure in above‐ground communities (Wilson ). Our ecological understanding of how plant communities respond to environmental variation, however, is restricted to interpretations of above‐ground community patterns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…). If more coherent, different or new responses then emerge, this warrants an all‐inclusive view on community diversity and species co‐existence, improving our understanding of community responses to environmental variation (Wilson ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Below-ground communities may respond differently to environmental variation than above-ground communities, possibly eliminating community responses when merging above-and below-ground communities ). If more coherent, different or new responses then emerge, this warrants an all-inclusive view on community diversity and species co-existence, improving our understanding of community responses to environmental variation (Wilson 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where does the community start, and where does it end? Including the seed bank to reassess forest herb layer responses to the environment

Plue

Frenne

Acharya

et al. 2017

J Vegetation Science

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Question Below‐ground processes are key determinants of above‐ground plant population and community dynamics. Still, our understanding of how environmental drivers shape plant communities is mostly based on above‐ground diversity patterns, bypassing below‐ground plant diversity stored in seed banks. As seed banks may shape above‐ground plant communities, we question whether concurrently analysing the above‐ and below‐ground species assemblages may potentially enhance our understanding of community responses to environmental variation. Location Temperate deciduous forests along a 2000 km latitudinal gradient in NW Europe. Methods Herb layer, seed bank and local environmental data including soil pH, canopy cover, forest cover continuity and time since last canopy disturbance were collected in 129 temperate deciduous forest plots. We quantified herb layer and seed bank diversity per plot and evaluated how environmental variation structured community diversity in the herb layer, seed bank and the combined herb layer–seed bank community. Results Seed banks consistently held more plant species than the herb layer. How local plot diversity was partitioned across the herb layer and seed bank was mediated by environmental variation in drivers serving as proxies of light availability. The herb layer and seed bank contained an ever smaller and ever larger share of local diversity, respectively, as both canopy cover and time since last canopy disturbance decreased. Species richness and β‐diversity of the combined herb layer–seed bank community responded distinctly differently compared to the separate assemblages in response to environmental variation in, e.g. forest cover continuity and canopy cover. Conclusions The seed bank is a below‐ground diversity reservoir of the herbaceous forest community, which interacts with the herb layer, although constrained by environmental variation in e.g. light availability. The herb layer and seed bank co‐exist as a single community by means of the so‐called storage effect, resulting in distinct responses to environmental variation not necessarily recorded in the individual herb layer or seed bank assemblages. Thus, concurrently analysing above‐ and below‐ground diversity will improve our ecological understanding of how understorey plant communities respond to environmental variation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where does the community start, and where does it end? Including the seed bank to reassess forest herb layer responses to the environment

Plue

Frenne

Acharya

et al. 2017

J Vegetation Science

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“…However, there are some more laborious in situ methods, e.g. minirhizotrons, that are used to measure below-ground biomass71 . Their use significantly enhances our understanding of the dynamics in belowground biomass allocation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Can root-associated fungi mediate the impact of abiotic conditions on the growth of a High Arctic herb?

Wutkowska

Ehrich

Mundra

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Arctic plants are affected by many stressors. Root-associated fungi are thought to influence plant performance in stressful environmental conditions. However, the relationships are not transparent; do the number of fungal partners, their ecological functions and community composition mediate the impact of environmental conditions and/or influence host plant performance? To address these questions, we used a common arctic plant as a model system: Bistorta vivipara . Whole plants (including root system) were collected from nine locations in Spitsbergen (n=214). Morphometric features were measured as a proxy for performance and combined with metabarcoding datasets of their root-associated fungi (amplicon sequence variants, ASVs), edaphic and meteorological variables. Seven biological hypotheses regarding fungal influence on plant measures were tested using structural equation modelling. The best-fitting model revealed that local temperature affected plants both directly (negatively aboveground and positively below-ground) and indirectly -mediated by fungal richness and the ratio of symbio-and saprotrophic ASVs. Fungal community composition did not impact plant measurements and plant reproductive investment did not depend on any fungal parameters. The lack of impact of fungal community composition on plant performance suggests that the functional importance of fungi is more important than their identity. The influence of temperature on host plants is therefore complex and should be examined further.

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“…() and Fraser et al. () present global approaches on plant traits and diversity, whereas Wilson () tackle issues of below‐ground patterns at the local community level. Similarly broad is the temporal scale of the contributions – Reitalu et al.…”

Section: Contributions To This Special Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation patterns and their underlying processes: where are we now?

Helm

Kalamees

Zobel

2014

J Vegetation Science

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Below‐ground opportunities in vegetation science

Abstract: Background: The below-ground component of vegetation accounts for the bulk

Cited by 32 publications

References 83 publications

Where does the community start, and where does it end? Including the seed bank to reassess forest herb layer responses to the environment

Where does the community start, and where does it end? Including the seed bank to reassess forest herb layer responses to the environment

Can root-associated fungi mediate the impact of abiotic conditions on the growth of a High Arctic herb?

Vegetation patterns and their underlying processes: where are we now?

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