Litter quality, land-use history, and nitrogen deposition effects on topsoil conditions across European temperate deciduous forests

Maes, Sybryn L.; Blondeel, Haben; Perring, Michael P.; Depauw, Leen; Brūmelis, Guntis; Brunet, Jörg; Decocq, Guillaume; Ouden, J. den; Härdtle, Werner; Hédl, Radim; Heinken, Thilo; Heinrichs, Steffi; Jaroszewicz, Bogdan; Kirby, K. J.; Kopecký, Martin; Máliš, František; Wulf, Monika; Verheyen, Kris

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2018.10.056

Cited by 54 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 102 publications

(118 reference statements)

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“…These clusters represented differences in other topsoil conditions. From the poorer sandy soils to the intermediate clay‐no‐carbonate to the richer clay‐carbonate soils, we observed an increase in proportion of exchangeable base cations (EBC), pH (pH KCl ) and total phosphorus content (TotP), and a decrease in litter mass, bulk density and C/N ratio (details see Maes et al ()). Since Olsen P was not correlated with the soil type groups, and because it is an important nutrient for plant growth, we included it as a separate predictor here (Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…) based on soil texture (% Clay, % Silt, % Sand) and carbonate or inorganic carbon concentration (%) using the hclust function in R (stats package, Ward.D method, Euclidean distances; R Core Team 2016). See Maes et al () for details on the soil sampling. The ClayCarbonate soils (21 plots) represent silty‐clay‐carbonate soils with high inorganic carbon concentration, whereas the ClayNoCarbonate soils (82 plots) represent silty‐clay soils without the presence of carbonates (low inorganic carbon concentration), and the Sand soils (82 plots) represent sandy soils with a low inorganic carbon concentration.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plant functional trait response to environmental drivers across European temperate forest understorey communities

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Functional traits respond to environmental drivers, hence evaluating trait-environment relationships across spatial environmental gradients can help to understand how multiple drivers influence plant communities. Global-change drivers such as changes in atmospheric nitrogen deposition occur worldwide, but affect community trait distributions at the local scale, where resources (e.g. light availability) and conditions (e.g. soil pH) also influence plant communities.• We investigate how multiple environmental drivers affect community trait responses related to resource acquisition (plant height, specific leaf area (SLA), woodiness, and mycorrhizal status) and regeneration (seed mass, lateral spread) of European temperate deciduous forest understoreys. We sampled understorey communities and derived trait responses across spatial gradients of global-change drivers (temperature, precipitation, nitrogen deposition, and past land use), while integrating in-situ plot measurements on resources and conditions (soil type, Olsen phosphorus (P), Ellenberg soil moisture, light, litter mass, and litter quality).• Among the global-change drivers, mean annual temperature strongly influenced traits related to resource acquisition. Higher temperatures were associated with taller understoreys producing leaves with lower SLA, and a higher proportional cover of woody and obligate mycorrhizal (OM) species. Communities in plots with higher Ellenberg soil moisture content had smaller seeds and lower proportional cover of woody and OM species. Finally, plots with thicker litter layers hosted taller understoreys with larger seeds and a higher proportional cover of OM species.• Our findings suggest potential community shifts in temperate forest understoreys with global warming, and highlight the importance of local resources and conditions as well as global-change drivers for community trait variation. Hansen et al., 2001;Walther, 2010;De Frenne et al., 2011;Bernhardt-R€ omermann et al., 2015;Bjorkman et al., 2018). Important global change drivers affecting temperate plant communities include increased temperatures, changes in Plant Biology 22 (2020) 410-424

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 71%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant functional trait response to environmental drivers across European temperate forest understorey communities

et al. 2020

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“…Overstorey effects on the availability of resources and growing conditions at the forest floor were assumed to be predominantly driven by differences in light transmittance and tree litter quality (Barbier, Gosselin, & Balandier, ). To quantify tree litter quality, we calculated an average litter quality score based on species‐specific litter quality scores, as described in Maes et al (). For each plot, a weighted average litter quality score was calculated with relative crown cover of each tree species present in the plot as weights.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of above‐ground understorey biomass and nutrient stocks in temperate deciduous forests

et al. 2019

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1. The understorey in temperate forests can play an important functional role, depending on its biomass and functional characteristics. While it is known that local soil and stand characteristics largely determine the biomass of the understorey, less is known about the role of global change. Global change can directly affect understorey biomass, but also indirectly by modifying the overstorey, local resource availability and growing conditions at the forest floor.2. In this observational study across Europe, we aim at disentangling the impact of global-change drivers on understorey biomass and nutrient stocks, from the impact of overstorey characteristics and local site conditions. Using piecewise structural equation modelling, we determine the main drivers of understorey biomass and nutrient stocks in these forests and examine potential direct and indirect effects of global-change drivers.3. Tree cover, tree litter quality and differences in former land use were the main drivers of understorey biomass and nutrient stocks, via their influence on understorey light and nitrogen availability and soil acidity. Other global-change drivers, including climate and nitrogen deposition, had similar indirect effects, but these were either weak or only affecting nutrient concentrations, not stocks. 4. Synthesis. We found that direct effects of global-change drivers on understorey biomass and nutrient stocks were absent. The indirect effects of global change, | 983Journal of Ecology LANDUYT eT AL.

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“…Tree litter, past land use (e.g. litter raking, fertilizer application), soil acidity and atmospheric deposition of N have all been shown to affect nutrient availability in temperate forest soils (Augusto, Dupouey, & Ranger, ; Gilliam, ; Hinsinger, ; Maes et al, ; Verheyen, Bossuyt, & Hermy, ).…”

Section: Quantification Of the Functional Importance Of The Understoreymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…X-axis labels refer to study IDs as listed in Tables S2-S5. For interpretation of colour scales, we refer to the online publication [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] deposition of N have all been shown to affect nutrient availability in temperate forest soils (Augusto, Dupouey, & Ranger, 2003;Gilliam, 2006;Hinsinger, 2001;Maes et al, 2019;Verheyen, Bossuyt, & Hermy, 1999).…”

Section: Ecosystem Fluxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The functional role of temperate forest understorey vegetation in a changing world

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Lombaerde

Perring

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Temperate forests cover 16% of the global forest area. Within these forests, the understorey is an important biodiversity reservoir that can influence ecosystem processes and functions in multiple ways. However, we still lack a thorough understanding of the relative importance of the understorey for temperate forest functioning. As a result, understoreys are often ignored during assessments of forest functioning and changes thereof under global change. We here compiled studies that quantify the relative importance of the understorey for temperate forest functioning, focussing on litter production, nutrient cycling, evapotranspiration, tree regeneration, pollination and pathogen dynamics. We describe the mechanisms driving understorey functioning and develop a conceptual framework synthesizing possible effects of multiple global change drivers on understorey‐mediated forest ecosystem functioning. Our review illustrates that the understorey's contribution to temperate forest functioning is significant but varies depending on the ecosystem function and the environmental context, and more importantly, the characteristics of the overstorey. To predict changes in understorey functioning and its relative importance for temperate forest functioning under global change, we argue that a simultaneous investigation of both overstorey and understorey functional responses to global change will be crucial. Our review shows that such studies are still very scarce, only available for a limited set of ecosystem functions and limited to quantification, providing little data to forecast functional responses to global change.

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Litter quality, land-use history, and nitrogen deposition effects on topsoil conditions across European temperate deciduous forests

Cited by 54 publications

References 102 publications

Plant functional trait response to environmental drivers across European temperate forest understorey communities

Plant functional trait response to environmental drivers across European temperate forest understorey communities

Drivers of above‐ground understorey biomass and nutrient stocks in temperate deciduous forests

The functional role of temperate forest understorey vegetation in a changing world

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