Consistent functional response of meadow species and communities to land‐use changes across productivity and soil moisture gradients

Abstract

Abbreviations CWM = community-weighted mean; SLA = specific leaf area; LDMC = leaf dry matter content; LMM = linear mixed effect models. NomenclatureKub at et al. (2002) for plants; Moravec (1995) for plant communities Abstract Questions: Wet meadows have traditionally been managed at low intensity, promoting the co-existence of a variety of plant species. The remaining fragments of these meadows are now being degraded by either mowing abandonment or by agricultural intensification, such as increased fertilization. We tested the theoretical expectation that certain functional traits can explain vegetation changes along gradients of productivity and soil moisture in response to these land-use changes. Location:Zelezn e hory Mts., Czech Republic, Central Europe. Methods:We set up a long-term experiment where we applied a full factorial design of fertilization and abandonment to 17 traditionally mown wet meadows covering a broad range of productivity and soil moisture conditions found within the region. Plant functional traits that cover different aspects of plant ecological strategies -plant height, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), seed mass and clonality -were used to explain both species and whole community response to land-use change. We employed linear mixed effect models to test for the consistency of functional changes across different productivity and soil moisture conditions. Results: We found that the functional response of species and whole communities to land-use change was consistent across meadows differing substantially in their productivity and soil moisture. Specifically, irrespective of the local conditions, both fertilization and abandonment selected for tall species within communities, highlighting the effect of increased competition for light. Traits related to a more exploitative strategy in species (higher SLA, more prominent clonal growth and smaller seeds) were consistently favoured with increased fertilization. Conclusions:We show that within a given region with a common land-use history, certain functional traits consistently explain and can help to predict changes in plant communities caused by land-use change, irrespective of different productivity and soil moisture conditions. Our results demonstrate a simple way to use functional traits in applied nature conservation. We hope this will encourage practitioners to use functional traits to complement existing knowledge on composition and productivity of considered habitats to enhance the planning of management practices. We encourage practitioners to build regional trait databases to actively use trait information for the purpose of habitat management.

Divergent responses of ecosystem respiration components to livestock exclusion on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau

“…Apart from the increases in plant growth that resulted from the exclusion of livestock grazing, GE‐induced changes in PFTs' biomass also may lead to higher R agb (Figure ). Indeed, it can be seen that these two variables are often related because changes in PFTs can be associated with the increased AGB (Figure S3) (Chen, Luo, Xia, Wilcox, et al, ; Májeková et al, ). Changes of this nature can increase plant growth respiration and plant maintenance respiration (Heskel et al, ; Luo, ; Pilkington et al, ), especially during the early stages of GE (Renou‐Wilson, Muller, Moser, & Wilson, ).…”

Ellenberg's indicator values support prediction of suitable habitat for pre-diapause larvae of endangered butterfly Euphydryas aurinia

“…Moreover, the significance of the EIV of “light” may be attributed to management practices. Many light-demanding species decline after the cessation of mowing as a result of litter accumulation and the dominance of tall herbs [57–61]. The absence of light-demanding species decreases the community mean EIV of “light” and thus indicates the influence of meadow abandonment.…”

Functional Traits and Plasticity of Plants in Ecological Research and Education

“…Plant functional traits present a novel and exciting approach how to carry on plant ecology and how to enable linking of processes observed on plant individuals to plant population dynamics, species distribution patterns and their coexistence, community assembly, and finally, to ecosystem functioning. In order to understand the role of plant functional traits for population and community functioning, Majekova [7][8][9] used approaches that ranged from an observation study on an in situ gradient, through experimental approaches that modulated and tested effects of specific environmental factors, to an eco-physiological approach that enabled to look deeper inside the functioning of plant individuals.…”