Incorporating Biodiversity Into Rangeland Health: Plant Species Richness and Diversity in Great Plains Grasslands

Symstad, Amy J.; Jonas, Jayne L.

doi:10.2111/rem-d-10-00136.1

Cited by 36 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 139 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Given the widespread emphasis on biodiversity conservation and management on grazed wetlands (e.g., Matejkova et al 2003, Middleton et al 2006, Symstad and Jonas 2011, we also examined the relationship between patch-scale plant species diversity and herbaceous utilization by cattle. Diversity (ShannonWiener Index), richness, and evenness were calculated in PC- ORD version 5.10 (McCune and Grace 2002).…”

Section: Data Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Montane meadow hydropedology, plant community, and herbivore dynamics

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Montane meadows provide multiple ecological and economic benefits, and are widely considered areas of high conservation value. There is growing interest in balancing multiple land-uses on these and other focal working landscapes to provide for economic, social, and conservation goals. Globally, livestock grazing has been used as a management and conservation tool in many ecosystems; however, there is substantial concern-particularly for montane meadows-that grazing negatively impacts ecosystem functions and services. The mechanisms by which excessive livestock grazing can degrade meadow function have been well documented; yet, for hydrologically functional meadow systems, we know little about meadow-scale linkages in the hydrologic-soil-plant-grazing animal continuum, which limits our ability to develop riparian grazing conservation strategies. We conducted a cross-sectional, observational survey of hydrology, soils, plant communities, and cattle forage resource use across 24 functional montane meadows of the central Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California, USA. By linking principles of plant community ecology and foraging theory, we were able to unravel relationships and drivers between hydropedologic conditions, plant community characteristics, and cattle grazing patterns. Our work demonstrates that hydrology is a critical driving factor of cattle foraging response, plant community attributes, and soil properties across these wetland ecosystems. Results indicate that these systems are resilient to the observed gradient of grazing disturbances. This information advances our understanding of how meadow-scale heterogeneity can be utilized in managing for multiple, and potentially conflicting, ecosystem services across working landscapes-particularly in the face of projected future climate changes and continually limited resources to support conservation and restoration projects.

show abstract

Section: Data Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Montane meadow hydropedology, plant community, and herbivore dynamics

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Biodiversity can affect ecosystem productivity (Cardinale et al, 2007;Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Symstad and Jonas, 2011;Wilsey and Potvin, 2000), resource-use and resource-use efficiency (Cardinale et al, 2007;Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Hooper and Vitousek, 1998), community stability (Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Symstad and Jonas, 2011;Yachi and Loreau, 1999), infection resistance (Haas et al, 2011), and structural and functional diversity at higher trophic levels (Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011). To conserve biodiversity and its resultant ecosystem properties, we need to study factors that influence diversity, such as the prevalence of exotic invasive species.…”

Section: Introduction 321 Biodiversity and Invasionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction 421 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, it can affect ecosystem productivity by influencing resource-use and promoting resource-use efficiency (Cardinale et al, 2007;Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Hooper and Vitousek, 1998;Symstad and Jonas, 2011;Wilsey and Potvin, 2000). It can also positively influence community stability by reducing fluctuations in production via compensatory effects (Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Isbell et al, 2009;Symstad and Jonas, 2011;Yachi and Loreau, 1999). In addition, biodiversity can affect infection resistance through increases in heterogeneity and thus dilution of hosts (Haas et al, 2011), and invasion resistance by again affecting resource-use as well as by competitive effects (Cardinale et al, 2007;Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Hooper and Vitousek, 1998;Scherber et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introduction 421 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ecosystem studies such as effects over succession would also be possible with satellite imagery in a way not possible using ground-level remote sensing. List of Tables 1 Number and date Confusion matrix for summer 2014 discriminant analysis to test discriminabilty of plots using wavelengths selected using principal components analysis: 435,525,575,635,680,710,750,835,970 Biodiversity influences ecosystem productivity (Cardinale et al, 2007;Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Symstad and Jonas, 2011;Wilsey and Potvin, 2000) and community stability (Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Symstad and Jonas, 2011;Yachi and Loreau, 1999). It can also deter invasion by non-native plants by affecting resource-use and competition (Cardinale et al, 2007;Gustafsson and Bostrom, 2011;Hooper and Vitousek, 1998;Scherber et al, 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Assessing the Role of Invasive Species in Successional Plant Communities Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

Aneece¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

I AbstractBiodiversity has been correlated with ecosystem stability and function. Invasive species can decrease biodiversity and cause ecological and economical damage. These species are especially prevalent in abandoned agricultural fields, and can disrupt secondary successional dynamics. Although field surveys are used to assess the impacts of these species, remote sensing can be more efficient, especially at large spatial extents. I examined the ability to use ground-level hyperspectral remote sensing to study invasive species and their effects on community properties at the Blandy Experimental Farm (BEF) in north-central Virginia. Their effects on ecosystem properties could not be assessed using ground-level remote sensing in this system; thus, I used leaf and soil measurements to assess their effects on secondary succession.I found that remote sensing can be used to differentiate among plant communities.The most influential species to community discriminability are considered invasive, suggesting that these species can strongly influence species compositions and other community properties. The most influential wavelengths for discrimination were distributed throughout the spectral profile and corresponded with plant physiological and structural elements.Thus, spectral differences across species were large enough to be used in aggregate to differentiate plant communities. Additionally, these differences were large enough to differentiate individual species, but discriminability varied by species. The two thistle species that are similar phylogenetically and structurally were readily distinguished amongst each other. However, the shrubby buckthorn was difficult to distinguish from the oriental bittersweet vine despite phylogenetic distance and differences in structure. This was likely due to physical overlap in the field and thus the difficulty in obtaining pure signatures for discrimination. Discriminability also differed by the spectral region examined. Buckthorn and oriental bittersweet were least discriminable in the 550-599 nm and 650-699 nm regions, due 2 to greater intraspecific variability of spectral data in these regions.Additionally, remote sensing can be used to estimate higher order community properties like species diversity, and thus assess the effects of invasive species on plant diversity.However, correlations between species diversity and spectral diversity varied by the spectral transformation technique used and the spectral region examined. There was a strong positive correlation between the two in the visible region when band depth was used and in the near-infrared region when first derivatives were used. There were no strong correlations in the red edge, due to high intraspecific variability in chlorophyll content.Lastly, I assessed the effects of these exotic invasive species on ecosystem properties, specifically secondary succession, using leaf and soil data. Differences in soil characteristics were larger across fields and stages than across species. However, there were species-level ...

show abstract

Exotic species drive patterns of plant species diversity in 93 restored tallgrass prairies

Kaul

2020

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A primary goal of restoration ecology is to understand the factors that generate variability in species diversity and composition among restorations. Plant communities may assemble deterministically toward a common community type, or they may assemble stochastically, ending differently because of weather conditions during establishment, soil legacy effects, or exotic species propagule pressure. To test these alternative hypotheses, we sampled plant communities and soil at 93 randomly selected restored prairies distributed throughout Iowa, USA. Five remnant sites were sampled as a reference. We tested our hypotheses using multiple regressions and investigated the strength of direct and indirect effects on species diversity and richness using structural equation models. The prairie restorations were highly variable in their age, size, diversity, soil characteristics, and how they were managed post‐seeding. The strongest predictor of plant species richness and diversity was the degree of invasion, as measured by the abundance of exotic species. Restorations planted with species‐rich seed mixes had reduced exotic species abundance, which led indirectly to higher species richness of restorations. Sites with higher organic matter and a more linear shape had a direct positive effect on exotic abundance, which in turn decreased diversity. We found little support for deterministic assembly, and diversity did not increase with the age of planting. Our results indicate that restored prairie communities tend to assemble into states of high or low diversity, driven by invasion from exotic plant species. Management of exotic species is essential for maximizing species diversity in temperate grassland restorations.

show abstract

Incorporating Biodiversity Into Rangeland Health: Plant Species Richness and Diversity in Great Plains Grasslands

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 36 publications

References 139 publications

Montane meadow hydropedology, plant community, and herbivore dynamics

Montane meadow hydropedology, plant community, and herbivore dynamics

Assessing the Role of Invasive Species in Successional Plant Communities Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing

Exotic species drive patterns of plant species diversity in 93 restored tallgrass prairies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About