Functional Response TRAITS and Plant Community Strategy Indicate the Stage of Secondary Succession

Abstract

Changes of species composition, plant community strategy and functional response trait turnover were studied in a succession from dry pastures to a forest community (oak-hornbeam forests). The following question was asked: are functional response traits and plant community strategies indicators of TAA (time since agricultural land use abandonment), thus of a specific succession stage. Indirect gradient analysis (DCA) was used in order to observe the position of the relevés along the axis and to correlate it with TAA. It was found that the position of relevés on DCA axis 1 is our proxy for TAA. Correlations (Spearman’s rho) between the occurrence of plant functional traits and TAA were performed. Low-growing herb species with scleromorphic leaves and green or red flowers are the predominant plant type on grassland areas, while plant species with digitate, hydro or mesomorphic leaves and white flowers typically prevail in forest. The proportion of chamaephytes increases immediately after land abandonment (afforestation). In a closed forest stand, there are many more herb species with vegetative propagation (bulbils). Herbal species in those stands most often reward pollinators with pollen. The ecological strategy of the entire plant community changes with spontaneous afforestation. On grassland, stress-tolerant species are dominant. After 10 years, the community is defined as CS and after 200 years as a community with a C-CS strategy.

Functional traits explain crayfish invasive success in the Netherlands

“…TWINSPAN analysis has often been applied on plants to identify functional groups based on their traits 76 , 77 . For example, TWINSPAN was applied to classify plant communities into multiple stages of succession using functional traits 78 . The TWINSPAN method constructs hierarchically ordered two-way tables in multiple steps 79 , 80 .…”

Plant Functional Traits of Plants Species Colonizing Forest Gaps

“…Using the JUICE software, we calculated the frequency of its occurrence in sub-plots at individual sampling locations for each plant trait. Using the Statistica 8.0 software (Statsoft Inc., Tulsa, OK, USA, 2007), we then calculated the Spearman correlation coefficient at p < 0.05 between the occurrence of individual plant traits and the sampling location [30]. Additionally, we calculated statistical differences between individual locations for each category of plant functional traits at p < 0.05 using the same software.…”

Turnover of Plant Species on an Ecological Gradient in Karst Dolines Is Reflected in Plant Traits: Chorotypes, Life Forms, Plant Architecture and Strategies

“…Plant functional strategies are also crucial in the functioning of communities [34]. A prominent strategy scheme is Grime's scheme [35] (competitor, stress tolerator, ruderal-CSR) and his theory [36] describes the three principal strategies representing viable trait combinations arising under conditions of competition (C), abiotic limitation to growth (S) and periodic biomass destruction (R), respectively [37].…”