BERGWALD – the vegetation database of mountain forests in the Bavarian Alps

Ewald, Jörg

doi:10.7809/b-e.00071

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…In order to confine the species sample to a reasonably cohesive ecological unit (see Brown, ), we considered only herbaceous forest plants with a preference for growing in closed forests or forest edges and gaps (according to Schmidt et al ., ). Species occurrence data and local environmental information for the study sites were compiled from the database BERGWALD (GIVD ID EU‐DE‐002; Ewald, ) and from published sources (Wulf, ; Heinken, ) as well as a new survey carried out for the WE during summer 2011. In both regions, the data sets encompassed the complete spectrum of forest communities on mineral soils.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource‐based determinants of range sizes of forest vascular plants in Germany

Pannek

Ewald

Diekmann

2013

Global Ecology and Biogeography

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Aim To examining whether niche breadth, niche position and a compound measure of the two variables help to explain the range sizes of forest vascular plants. Locations Deciduous forests in two regions of Germany, the Weser–Elbe region and Bavarian Alps. Methods We compiled range size data for vascular plant species (30 in the Weser–Elbe region, 35 in the Bavarian Alps) on regional, national and continental scales by determining the area of occupancy (number of occupied grid cells) in both regions, Germany and Eurasia. Estimates of realized niche breadth and niche position (ecological optimum) for soil pH and light were based on measurements in 46 sites for all species. Frequency distributions of pH values on regional and national scales served to calculate the ‘available niche breadth’, i.e. niche breadth values corrected for the different availabilities of pH values in the region and country. Results Regional range size in the Weser–Elbe region increased with increasing niche breadth for both soil pH and light and with decreasing pH niche position. pH niche breadth was positively correlated to national range size in the Weser–Elbe region and to Eurasian range size in the Bavarian Alps. In the latter region, all other relationships with range size were (partly marginally) non‐significant. Available niche breadth was generally more closely related to the regional and national distribution of species in both regions than either niche breadth or position alone. Main conclusions Niche breadth and position performed well as predictors of range size only for soil pH and in the Weser–Elbe region, which shows more homogeneous environmental conditions than the Bavarian Alps. If the frequencies of different ranges of pH values can be quantified, the calculation of available niche breadth for soil pH appears to be a promising approach for assessing the possible effects of niche variables on the range sizes of species.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource‐based determinants of range sizes of forest vascular plants in Germany

Pannek

Ewald

Diekmann

2013

Global Ecology and Biogeography

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“…Representing tree species proportional to their frequency and missing treeless vegetation, FI data are less effective in finding upper limits despite the large sample size. Relevés from nonforest vegetation demonstrate the usefulness of complete species sampling beyond the proximate goal of vegetation studies, as pointed out by Ewald (2001Ewald ( , 2003. Observation of tree seedlings in alpine vegetation is a useful by-product, which allows assessing the limits of longdistance seed dispersal of common species with high seed pressure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…comm.). BERGWALD is a database of forest and related vegetation in the Bavarian Alps (Ewald 1995(Ewald , 2012 and, at the time of study, contained 4,934 relevés (95.5% with original elevation information) from 52 sources. 85% of relevés originated in projects with preferential sampling, usually geared at optimal coverage of community variation within study areas, 2% from stratified random sampling with elevation as a criterion for placement.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation databases provide a close-up on altitudinal tree species distribution in the Bavarian Alps

Ewald¹

2012

Biodivers. Ecol.

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Thermal limits of tree species are of paramount interest in monitoring and projecting effects of climate warming. Based on the large phytosociological database BERGWALD, a database of forest inventory plots, and phytosociological tables of vegetation above treeline, tree species occurrence along a regional elevation gradient was assessed separately for tree and regeneration layer individuals. Upper limits in the database were compared to altitudinal limits given in Oberdorfer's regional flora and to northern latitudinal limits given in worldwide distribution maps. For 26 of 32 tree species, the known distribution limits had to be raised based on plot data, demonstrating the high potential of vegetation databases to deliver ecological information. In most species, regeneration layer occurrences markedly exceeded the altitudinal limit of trees, indicating a potential for rather rapid advances of treelines under climate warming. Regional altitudinal and global latitudinal limits were quite closely related in the majority of tree species. However, several tree species climb to much higher elevation in the Alps than their latitudinal limits suggest. The boreal-subalpine mismatch in cold limits is only partly explained by vicariism and endemism. Sorbus aria, Acer pseudoplatanus, Fagus sylvatica and Taxus baccata are important elements of temperate mountain forests, which do not reach thermally equivalent northern latitudes for unknown reasons.

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Traits and climate are associated with first flowering day in herbaceous species along elevational gradients

Bucher

König

Menzel

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Phenological responses to changing temperatures are known as “fingerprints of climate change,” yet these reactions are highly species specific. To assess whether different plant characteristics are related to these species‐specific responses in flowering phenology, we observed the first flowering day (FFD) of ten herbaceous species along two elevational gradients, representing temperature gradients. On the same populations, we measured traits being associated with (1) plant performance (specific leaf area), (2) leaf biochemistry (leaf C, N, P, K, and Mg content), and (3) water‐use efficiency (stomatal pore area index and stable carbon isotopes concentration). We found that as elevation increased, FFD was delayed for all species with a highly species‐specific rate. Populations at higher elevations needed less temperature accumulation to start flowering than populations of the same species at lower elevations. Surprisingly, traits explained a higher proportion of variance in the phenological data than elevation. Earlier flowering was associated with higher water‐use efficiency, higher leaf C, and lower leaf P content. In addition to that, the intensity of shifts in FFD was related to leaf N and K. These results propose that traits have a high potential in explaining phenological variations, which even surpassed the effect of temperature changes in our study. Therefore, they have a high potential to be included in future analyses studying the effects of climate change and will help to improve predictions of vegetation changes.

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BERGWALD – the vegetation database of mountain forests in the Bavarian Alps

Cited by 8 publications

References 13 publications

Resource‐based determinants of range sizes of forest vascular plants in Germany

Resource‐based determinants of range sizes of forest vascular plants in Germany

Vegetation databases provide a close-up on altitudinal tree species distribution in the Bavarian Alps

Traits and climate are associated with first flowering day in herbaceous species along elevational gradients

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