Ecology of Central European Non-Forest Vegetation: Coastal to Alpine, Natural to Man-Made Habitats

Leuschner, Christoph; Ellenberg, Heinz

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-43048-5

Cited by 135 publications

(180 citation statements)

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“…Comparisons of HYDE with REVEALS reconstructions that include the heather (HL) fractions do not match as well (slope of 0.828; Figure S2), and we omitted HL from our primary analysis. Though heathlands can develop due to anthropogenic influences such as grazing and fire, many are natural and do not result from human activities [53,54,63]. This evaluation of the REVEALS method provides confidence that the REVEALS reconstructions are suitable for the evaluation of KK10 and HYDE scenarios for preindustrial time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…AL includes the REVEALS estimates of cover for all cereals, and GL includes the REVEALS estimates for eight taxa together: Artemisia, Cyperaceae, Filipendula, Poaceae, Plantago lanceolata, P. media, Littorella-type and Rumex acetosa-type [33,40]. In Europe, heathlands may be considered either anthropogenic or natural [53,54]. For this reason, we further performed a set of comparisons with REVEALS that include heather (Calluna vulgaris, hereafter "heathland" or HL) in the open fraction.…”

Section: The Reveals Pollen-based Land Cover Reconstructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Constraining the Deforestation History of Europe: Evaluation of Historical Land Use Scenarios with Pollen-Based Land Cover Reconstructions

Kaplan

Krumhardt

Gaillard

et al. 2017

Land

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Anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC) is the most important transformation of the Earth system that occurred in the preindustrial Holocene, with implications for carbon, water and sediment cycles, biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services and regional and global climate. For example, anthropogenic deforestation in preindustrial Eurasia may have led to feedbacks to the climate system: both biogeophysical, regionally amplifying winter cold and summer warm temperatures, and biogeochemical, stabilizing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and thus influencing global climate. Quantification of these effects is difficult, however, because scenarios of anthropogenic land cover change over the Holocene vary widely, with increasing disagreement back in time. Because land cover change had such widespread ramifications for the Earth system, it is essential to assess current ALCC scenarios in light of observations and provide guidance on which models are most realistic. Here, we perform a systematic evaluation of two widely-used ALCC scenarios (KK10 and HYDE3.1) in northern and part of central Europe using an independent, pollen-based reconstruction of Holocene land cover (REVEALS). Considering that ALCC in Europe primarily resulted in deforestation, we compare modeled land use with the cover of non-forest vegetation inferred from the pollen data. Though neither land cover change scenario matches the pollen-based reconstructions precisely, KK10 correlates well with REVEALS at the country scale, while HYDE systematically underestimates land use with increasing magnitude with time in the past. Discrepancies between modeled and reconstructed land use are caused by a number of factors, including assumptions of per-capita land use and socio-cultural factors that cannot be predicted on the basis of the characteristics of the physical environment, including dietary preferences, long-distance trade, the location of urban areas and social organization.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: The Reveals Pollen-based Land Cover Reconstructionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraining the Deforestation History of Europe: Evaluation of Historical Land Use Scenarios with Pollen-Based Land Cover Reconstructions

Kaplan

Krumhardt

Gaillard

et al. 2017

Land

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“…Both agricultural intensification and abandonment, however, have resulted in a continuing loss of semi-natural open habitats and their characteristic species (Hooftman & Bullock, 2012;Poschlod & WallisDeVries, 2002;Wesche, Krause, Culmsee, & Leuschner, 2012). To compensate for the decline of traditional extensive land use systems, such as pastoral farming (Leuschner & Ellenberg, 2017;Poschlod, Baumann, & Karlik, 2009), extensive livestock grazing has become a valuable tool for conservation management in Europe (Rosa García et al, 2013;Rosenthal, Schrautzer, & Eichberg, 2012;Van Wieren, 1995). The primary mechanism by which biomass removal in general, and grazing in particular, benefits plant diversity in grassland ecosystems is that it enhances the light availability at ground level and thereby alleviates light competition (Borer et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazing by wild red deer: Management options for the conservation of semi‐natural open habitats

Riesch

Tonn

Meißner

et al. 2019

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1.Maintaining semi-natural open habitats requires biomass removal, which can be achieved by extensive grazing with livestock species. However, implementing this established conservation management strategy in large or access-restricted areas is often not possible. 2.We investigated grazing by wild and free-ranging red deer Cervus elaphus as an alternative conservation management approach on an active military training area in Germany. In grasslands and heathlands protected under the EU Habitats Directive, we quantified above-ground net primary productivity, forage quality and forage removal by red deer over three successive years. To assess synergistic effects between wildlife grazing and additional grassland management measures removing vegetation biomass (i.e. burning, mowing), we conducted our grazing experiment in burnt, mown and untreated grasslands.3. Annual forage removal by red deer amounted to 35%, 44%, 48% and 59% of the above-ground net primary productivity in burnt, mown and untreated grasslands, and untreated heathlands, respectively. Theoretically, a similar annual biomass removal could be obtained by livestock grazing with 0.54 animal units ha −1 in grasslands and 0.45 animal units ha −1 in heathlands. In grasslands, daily rates of forage removal peaked in spring and early summer, whereas in heathlands, forage removal rates were only significant in winter. 4.Forage removal rates in grasslands increased with productivity and forage quality, which were both enhanced in mown grasslands. This suggests mowing can increase grassland attractiveness to red deer. Forage removal rates in heathlands did not relate to productivity or forage quality but to standing biomass. Synthesis and applications.We demonstrate that the quantity of forage removed by wild red deer can be comparable to that of livestock in common conservation grazing systems. The seasonal patterns of forage removal by red deer in grasslands and heathlands coincided with the different grazing requirements of these habitats. Especially in large areas of conservation interest, we therefore encourage attempts to modify current wildlife management strategies to allow red deer to forage in open landscapes, which can contribute to the conservation of seminatural open habitats and also help to reduce damage in forest stands.

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“…However, the studied Polytrichaceae species (unlike some other species in this family) can grow to a height of only about 10 cm and can grow laterally only by sending up new shoots from below, not by overgrowing from the top, as the larger pleurocarps can (Appendix S6). This gives them a competitive disadvantage that, together with their relatively high-light requirements, may explain why these species, in spite of their physiological potential, are not especially abundant in our forest although in disturbed forests and plantations they can become quite abundant (Leuschner & Ellenberg, 2017;Wang, Bao, Yan, & Lin, 2014).…”

Section: Explaining Species Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparisons of photosynthesis‐related traits of 27 abundant or subordinate bryophyte species in a subalpine old‐growth fir forest

Wang

Bader

Liu

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Bryophyte communities can exhibit similar structural and taxonomic diversity as vascular plant communities, just at a smaller scale. Whether the physiological diversity can be similarly diverse, and whether it can explain local abundance patterns is unknown, due to a lack of community‐wide studies of physiological traits. This study re‐analyzed data on photosynthesis‐related traits (including the nitrogen, phosphorus and chlorophyll concentrations, photosynthetic capacities, and photosynthetic nutrient use efficiencies) of 27 bryophyte species in a subalpine old‐growth fir forest on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. We explored differences between taxonomic groups and hypothesized that the most abundant bryophyte species had physiological advantages relative to other subdominant species. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to summarize the differences among species and trait values of the most abundant and other co‐occurring subdominant species. Species from the Polytrichaceae were separated out on both PCA axes, indicating their high chlorophyll concentrations and photosynthetic capacities (axis 1) and relatively high‐light requirements (axis 2). Mniaceae species also had relatively high photosynthetic capacities, but their light saturation points were low. In contrast, Racomitrium joseph‐hookeri and Lepidozia reptans, two species with a high shoot mass per area, had high‐light requirements and low nutrient and chlorophyll concentrations and photosynthetic capacities. The nutrient concentrations, photosynthetic capacities, and photosynthetic nutrient use efficiencies of the most abundant bryophyte species did not differ from co‐occurring subdominant species. Our research confirms the links between the photosynthesis‐related traits and adaptation strategies of bryophytes. However, species relative abundance was not related to these traits.

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Ecology of Central European Non-Forest Vegetation: Coastal to Alpine, Natural to Man-Made Habitats

Cited by 135 publications

References 0 publications

Constraining the Deforestation History of Europe: Evaluation of Historical Land Use Scenarios with Pollen-Based Land Cover Reconstructions

Constraining the Deforestation History of Europe: Evaluation of Historical Land Use Scenarios with Pollen-Based Land Cover Reconstructions

Grazing by wild red deer: Management options for the conservation of semi‐natural open habitats

Comparisons of photosynthesis‐related traits of 27 abundant or subordinate bryophyte species in a subalpine old‐growth fir forest

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