Community-level variation in plant functional traits and ecological strategies shapes habitat structure along succession gradients in alpine environment

Molecular Diversity and Distribution of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi at Different Elevations in Mt. Taibai of Qinling Mountain

“…The development of molecular biology techniques allows detection of closely related species and enables their response to regional environmental gradients to be recorded (Chamkhi et al, 2018). Mountain ecosystem has complex structures and functions due to their pronounced climatic gradients, which is of great significance for the study of biodiversity (Zanzottera et al, 2020;Zhang and Liu, 2011). Further, research has shown that understanding AMF diversity and community distribution in the mountains was the basis for predicting the occurrence and evolution of symbiosis in mountain ecosystems (Li et al, 2018).…”

“…AMF diversity has been reported in various ecosystems, such as grassland ecosystem ( Liang et al, 2017 ; Smilauer et al, 2019 ; Goldmann et al, 2020 ), agricultural ecosystem ( Oehl et al, 2010 ; Liu et al, 2019 ; Zhu et al, 2020 ), forest ecosystem ( Dos Passos et al, 2020 ; Rozek et al, 2020 ), and even global ecosystem ( Tedersoo et al, 2014 ; Davison et al, 2015 ). Because of the strong environmental gradient, mountain ecosystem provides a unique opportunity for the study of AMF diversity and becomes a key area for global biodiversity research ( Zanzottera et al, 2020 ). In mountain ecosystems, elevation gradient causes environmental gradient changes, which may have a greater impact on AMF community and diversity.…”

Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy

“…Classes of evergreen heaths and scrubs, as well as of evergreen forests, converged toward lower values of the economics axis, thus exhibiting conservative leaf traits. These groups include classes dominated by needle-leaved and sclerophyllous species, typical of borealalpine climatic zones, e.g., Loiseleurio procumbentis-Vaccinietea (AC.LOI), Rhododendro hirsuti-Ericetea carneae (CQ.RHO), Vaccinio-Piceetea (BA.PIC) and Roso pendulinae-Pinetea mugo (CP.MUG), or Mediterranean climate, e.g., Cisto-Lavanduletea stoechadis (FC.LAV), Ononido-Rosmarinetea (FB.ROS), Junipero-Pinetea sylvestris (CN.SAB) and Quercetea ilicis (FA.QUI), and therefore include species adapted to endure adverse environmental conditions such as drought, extreme temperatures (high and/or low) and prolonged snow cover (De la Riva et al 2016, Fyllas et al 2020, Zanzottera et al 2020. Indeed, classes of both evergreen heaths and forests showed a marked tendency toward the stress-tolerant (S) strategy (Fig.…”

“…Bruelheide et al (2018) have also recently defined the functional space of plant communities at the global scale, starting from plot-level trait composition. Nonetheless, functional analyses of plant communities as identified by syntaxonomy have been attempted only using syntaxonomic unit lower than the rank of class, such as associations (Poldini et al 2011, Zanzottera et al 2020 and orders (Macedo et al 2010), whereas at higher ranks the functional connotation of syntaxa has rarely been generally assessed (Macedo et al 2010).…”

Exploring Assembly Trajectories of Abandoned Grasslands in Response to 10 Years of Mowing in Sub-Mediterranean Context

“…CSR analysis has allowed strategies to be determined for a wide range of vascular plant species from habitats worldwide [36], and many examples have been produced at the species level [41,42]. In contrast, an approach involving 'community strategy' has been highly overlooked (but see [43]) even if it could provide key insights into the variability of adaptations within plant communities.…”