Native and Alien Plant Species Richness Response to Soil Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Temperate Floodplain and Swamp Forests

Abstract

Soil nitrogen and phosphorus are commonly limiting elements affecting plant species richness in temperate zones. Our species richness-ecological study was performed in alder-dominated forests representing temperate floodplains (streamside alder forests of Alnion incanae alliance) and swamp forests (alder carrs of Alnion glutinosae alliance) in the Western Carpathians. Species richness (i.e., the number of vascular plants in a vegetation plot) was analyzed separately for native and alien vascular plants in 240 vegetation plots across the study area covering Slovakia, northern Hungary and southern Poland. The relationship between the species richness of each plant group and total soil nitrogen content, plant-available phosphorus and carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio was analyzed by generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) with Poisson error distribution and log-link function. The number of recorded native and alien species was 17-84 (average 45.4) and 0-9 (average 1.5) species per plot, respectively. The GLMMs were statistically significant OPEN ACCESSForests 2015, 6 3502(p ˂ 0.001) for both plant groups, but the total explained variation was higher for native (14%) than alien plants (9%). The richness of native species was negatively affected by the total soil nitrogen content and plant-available phosphorus, whereas the C/N ratio showed a positive impact. The alien richness was predicted only by the total soil nitrogen content showing a negative effect.

Effects of Afforestation on Plant Diversity and Soil Quality in Semiarid SE Spain

“…In addition, our results revealed similar distributions between SOC and K and s_K. High levels of K have been associated with reduced species richness [70,71]. An opposite effect has been observed for soil TN, which may promote species richness in temperate regions [71,72], as we found in our study.…”

Ecological conditions of the altitudinal substitution of Petasites kablikianus and P. hybridus in the Polish Carpathians

“…In groups of patches where P. kablikianus was dominant, 16 Agrostis stolonifera c 3.5 19 -6 - 15 15.7 27 Alnus incana a - 10 4.6 12 -15.5 18 Festuca gigantea c - 16 - 31 6.9 38 15.5 45 Petasites kablikianus c 33 Relevés were divided into four groups: with P. kablikianus as the only dominant (Pk), mixed plots with a dominance of P. kablikianus (Pk/Ph), mixed plots with a dominance of P. hybridus (Ph/Pk) and with P. hybridus as the only dominant (Ph Phalaris arundinacea, and Salix alba presented more significant relationships to plots with P. hybridus. Thirteen of these were more characteristic to the Ph/Pk mixed group and 13 to the group in which P. hybridus was dominant (Tab.…”

“…Among them, stream power, flood duration, various topographic variables, soil pH, content of nutrient elements or heavy metals in the soil, light intensity, soil texture, groundwater discharge, and level of the water-table are notable. Other studies have investigated vegetation as a factor influencing various environmental features [14][15][16][17][18]. Each of those studies analyzed some of the factors mentioned above, mostly according to vegetation type, which has been studied in relation to species richness.…”

Non-native plant species in alder-dominated forests in Slovakia: what does the regional- and the local-scale approach bring?

“…They comprised mainly soil, climatic and hydrological factors, which were formerly found to be significant in relation to vegetation diversity of floodplain forests (e.g. Douda et al, 2012;Hrivnák et al, 2015Hrivnák et al, , 2020Pielech, 2015;Slezák et al, 2017). Geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude) and altitude as well as aspect were measured by GPSmap 60 CSx.…”