How robust are community-based plant bioindicators? Empirical testing of the relationship between Ellenberg values and direct environmental measures in woodland communities

Carpenter, William S.; Goodenough, Anne E.

doi:10.1556/comec.15.2014.1.1

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The relationship between EIVs and physical temperature was surprisingly strong, even though the EIVs in our study were obtained as unweighted averages rather than, as is common practice in vegetation ecology, from cover-weighted averages (Diekmann 2003). This is, however, consistent with the above-mentioned results by Lenoir et al (2013), who used unweighted averages, and with the study by Carpenter & Goodenough (2014), who found that (for soil moisture, pH and nitrate) unweighted EIVs correlated with environmental measures better than abundance-weighted ones did. Carpenter & Goodenough (2014) explained their findings suggesting that presence of rare plants can be important in quantification of environmental parameters.…”

Section: F L O R I S T I C P a T T E R N S A N D I N D I C A T O R V supporting

confidence: 91%

“…This is, however, consistent with the above‐mentioned results by Lenoir et al . (), who used unweighted averages, and with the study by Carpenter & Goodenough (), who found that (for soil moisture, pH and nitrate) unweighted EIVs correlated with environmental measures better than abundance‐weighted ones did. Carpenter & Goodenough () explained their findings suggesting that presence of rare plants can be important in quantification of environmental parameters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…(), who used unweighted averages, and with the study by Carpenter & Goodenough (), who found that (for soil moisture, pH and nitrate) unweighted EIVs correlated with environmental measures better than abundance‐weighted ones did. Carpenter & Goodenough () explained their findings suggesting that presence of rare plants can be important in quantification of environmental parameters. For the purposes of climate monitoring, unweighted values will not record changes in species abundances, originated by climate change‐induced variations in competitiveness; on the other hand, weighted averages are often based on visual estimates of species cover, introducing an observer bias (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Moreover, although many studies found that EIVM was among the best‐performing EIVs (references in Loreto et al . ), two recent papers have recorded poor performances of EIVM even when compared with measurement of ground water level (Carpenter & Goodenough ; Szymura, Szymura & Macioł ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although a number of studies have compared or calibrated average indicator values of plant communities with measured environmental variables (see references in Szymura, Szymura & Macioł 2014), the vast majority of these works dealt with edaphic indicator values only (e.g. Carpenter & Goodenough 2014). Only a very few studies compared indicator values for temperature with measured (Scherrer & K€ orner 2011) or interpolated (Renetzeder et al 2010;Lenoir et al 2013) temperature variables.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Tree ring ecological signal is consistent with floristic composition and plant indicator values in Mediterranean Fagus sylvatica forests

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary We compared the multivariate patterns of tree ring chronologies with those of floristic composition (and of its associated Ellenberg indicator values – EIVs) across the whole elevation gradient of Fagus sylvatica forests in Central Italy (from 300 to 1900 m a.s.l.). Both data sets were also compared with bioclimatic parameters obtained from reconstructed, site‐representative meteorological data. Procrustes analysis showed that the patterns of tree ring chronologies and floristic assemblages were significantly correlated. The two main bio‐climatic belts obtained from tree ring analysis showed significantly different floristic composition and significantly different distribution of EIVs. Constrained ordination with meteorological data as covariates showed that in both data sets, most of the variation was explained by mean summer temperature, while precipitation parameters had only minor explanatory power. Ellenberg indicator values for temperature showed a strong correlation with mean summer temperature obtained from the meteorological data. EIVs for continentality were weakly correlated with annual temperature range. No correlation emerged between the EIVs for moisture and the precipitation parameters. Constrained ordination of the tree ring data set with the floras' mean EIVs as covariates found that the most explanatory variables were the EIVs for temperature followed by the EIVs for light. This latter finding is probably a consequence of temperature control (via summer drought) on canopy Leaf Area Index. Synthesis. Ecological classification of beech forest stands through either tree ring chronologies or floristic composition yields very similar results. Both bio‐indication methods point to the predominant role of growing‐season temperatures in controlling patterns and processes of forest ecosystems across wide elevation gradients. Thus, similarities in tree ring chronologies of the past between sites could be used to infer analogies in past floristic assemblages. Moreover, temperature indicator values obtained from floras show excellent accordance with meteorological data, allowing reliable usage of diachronic floristic data for climate change monitoring at detailed spatial scale.

show abstract

Section: F L O R I S T I C P a T T E R N S A N D I N D I C A T O R V supporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Tree ring ecological signal is consistent with floristic composition and plant indicator values in Mediterranean Fagus sylvatica forests

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Between‐year weather differences and long‐term environmental trends both contribute to observed vegetation changes in a plot resurvey study

Erdős,

Ónodi,

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Repeated surveys of vegetation plots offer a viable tool to detect fine‐scale responses of vegetation to environmental changes. In this study, our aim was to explore how the species composition and species richness of dry grasslands changed over a period of 17 years, how these changes relate to environmental changes and how the presence of spring ephemerals, which may react to short‐term weather fluctuations rather than long‐term climatic trends, may influence the results. A total of 95 plots was surveyed in 2005 and resurveyed in 2022 in dry grasslands of the Kiskunság Sand Ridge (Hungary, Eastern Central Europe), where there has been a significant increase in mean annual temperature during the last decades, while no trends in precipitation can be identified. Db‐RDA was performed to reveal compositional changes. The changes in environmental conditions and naturalness state were assessed using ecological and naturalness indicator values. We also compared per‐plot richness of all species, native species and non‐native species of the old and the new relevés. All analyses were repeated after removing all spring ephemerals. We found clear temporal changes in species composition. Mean temperature indicator values increased, while mean soil moisture indicator values decreased during the 17 years. Also, decreasing per‐plot richness was detected both for all species and for native species, while mean naturalness increased. After the removal of spring ephemerals, the compositional changes were less obvious although still significant. The increase in the temperature indicator values remained significant even without the spring ephemerals. However, the decrease in the moisture indicator values, the decrease in the number of all species and native species, as well as the increase in naturalness indicator values disappeared when spring ephemerals were excluded from the analyses. Our study demonstrates that between‐year weather differences and long‐term environmental trends both contribute to observed vegetation changes.

show abstract

From diverse to simple: butterfly communities erode from extensive grasslands to intensively used farmland and urban areas

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The severe biodiversity decline in European agricultural landscapes demands a specific evaluation of the various land-use practices. Many butterflies in Europe, as an important ecological indicator and pollinator taxon, require human interventions to sustain their populations in cultivated landscapes. However, land-use changes and management intensification are currently responsible for their decline. In this study, we compare butterfly communities occurring on 93 sites in seven widely distributed land-use types, viz. extensive meadows and pastures, semi-intensive meadows, vineyards, arable land, settlements and apple orchards. We recorded a high butterfly diversity in supposedly high nature-conservation value (HNV) grasslands (extensive meadows and pastures). All other land-use types showed significantly lower diversity, with decreasing diversity from semi-intensive meadows to apple orchards. Moreover, functional traits uncovered a general trend: extensive grasslands supported communities of more specialized and sedentary species whilst all other non-HNV land-use types showed communities characterized by mobile generalists. Community composition was driven by the land-use type and explained by plant-based indicator values for nutrients and light and temperature variables. Important life-history traits further correlated with site variables confirming the shift from specialists to generalists along increasing land-use intensity gradients and the effect of the thermal environment on phenological traits. We found supporting evidence for the effectiveness of regional Agri-Environmental Measures for butterfly conservation in European cultural landscapes and for the European conservation schemes to focus at least partly on the preservation of HNV grasslands with extensive management. Furthermore, we clearly show the poor ecological state of butterfly communities in more disturbed land-use types (including urban areas) and propose adopting measures to improve butterflies’ conservation in these environments.

show abstract

How robust are community-based plant bioindicators? Empirical testing of the relationship between Ellenberg values and direct environmental measures in woodland communities

Cited by 24 publications

References 65 publications

Tree ring ecological signal is consistent with floristic composition and plant indicator values in Mediterranean Fagus sylvatica forests

Tree ring ecological signal is consistent with floristic composition and plant indicator values in Mediterranean Fagus sylvatica forests

Between‐year weather differences and long‐term environmental trends both contribute to observed vegetation changes in a plot resurvey study

From diverse to simple: butterfly communities erode from extensive grasslands to intensively used farmland and urban areas

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About