Recovery of Forest Plant Communities in Post-Agricultural Landscapes

Flinn, Kathryn M.; Vellend, Mark

doi:10.2307/3868486

Cited by 143 publications

(285 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Long-term land-use legacies on soil physical and chemical properties have been widely documented [61,62] and can lead to altered plant successional trajectories for years after the abandonment of disturbance [63][64][65][66]. There is some evidence that changes in microbial communities may mediate the altered biogeochemical processes in historically disturbed soils [67,68], although the focus of land-use legacies has been on soil properties, while less research has elucidated the historical imprints on microbial communities themselves [68,69].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Soil Fungi to Logging and Oil Palm Agriculture in Southeast Asian Tropical Forests

et al. 2014

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Human land use alters soil microbial composition and function in a variety of systems, although few comparable studies have been done in tropical forests and tropical agricultural production areas. Logging and the expansion of oil palm agriculture are two of the most significant drivers of tropical deforestation, and the latter is most prevalent in Southeast Asia. The aim of this study was to compare soil fungal communities from three sites in Malaysia that represent three of the most dominant land-use types in the Southeast Asia tropics: a primary forest, a regenerating forest that had been selectively logged 50 years previously, and a 25-year-old oil palm plantation. Soil cores were collected from three replicate plots at each site, and fungal communities were sequenced using the Illumina platform. Extracellular enzyme assays were assessed as a proxy for soil microbial function. We found that fungal communities were distinct across all sites, although fungal composition in the regenerating forest was more similar to the primary forest than either forest community was to the oil palm site. Ectomycorrhizal fungi, which are important associates of the dominant Dipterocarpaceae tree family in this region, were compositionally distinct across forests, but were nearly absent from oil palm soils. Extracellular enzyme assays indicated that the soil ecosystem in oil palm plantations experienced altered nutrient cycling dynamics, but there were few differences between regenerating and primary forest soils. Together, these results show that logging and the replacement of primary forest with oil palm plantations alter fungal community and function, although forests regenerating from logging had more similarities with primary forests in terms of fungal composition and nutrient cycling potential. Since oil palm agriculture is currently the mostly rapidly expanding equatorial crop and logging is pervasive across tropical ecosystems, these findings may have broad applicability.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Soil Fungi to Logging and Oil Palm Agriculture in Southeast Asian Tropical Forests

et al. 2014

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“…At stand ages between 70 and 80 years, the plantations approach a forest species richness comparable with that of many of the ancient woodland plantations (cf. Flinn & Vellend 2005). All forest species of the regional species pool are able to colonize plantations on former fields.…”

Section: Discussion Stand Agementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dispersal limitation is one of the most important factors controlling plant colonization in highly fragmented forest landscapes (Honnay et al 2002;Flinn & Vellend 2005). The present study confirms that plantations isolated by open land are only colonized by a restricted number of good dispersers within the group of forest species.…”

Section: Implications For Wo Odland Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant colonization in heterogeneous landscapes: an 80‐year perspective on restoration of broadleaved forest vegetation

Brunet

2007

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary1. Afforestation of agricultural land has become an important issue in Europe during the past two decades. In particular, broadleaf plantations have been promoted as multifunctional forests for biodiversity, timber production and recreation. The aim of this study was to analyse how the colonization of ground-layer plants in recently planted woodlands is affected by stand age, spatial isolation, former land-use type and canopy species. 2. Colonization was studied in 50 plantations of pedunculate oak Quercus robur and 16 plantations of European sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus on former arable land and open pastures in the Torup-Skabersjö area of southern Sweden. Twelve oak plantations and 10 sycamore plantations on ancient woodland sites were used as reference areas. 3. Woodland species richness increased continuously with stand age in plantations contiguous with ancient woodland. The oldest plantations (70 -80 years) approached the species richness of ancient oak woodland. Species richness decreased with increasing distance from ancient woodlands, and there was no significant increase in species richness between stands aged 20 and 80 years in isolated plantations. Most species that regularly colonized isolated plantations had adhesive seeds or small, wind-dispersed diaspores. 4. Ordination analysis showed clear differentiation between former land-use categories and spatiotemporal stand categories (recently isolated, recently contiguous and ancient). No consistent differences were found in vegetation patterns in oak and sycamore stands. Woodland species richness was similar on former arable land and open pastures. Pasture plantations were characterized by the presence of more acid-tolerant species, whereas the frequency of some acid-sensitive species was higher on former fields. 5. Synthesis and applications. This study demonstrates that new woodland should build out from cores of ancient woodland for optimal ground vegetation development. A species-rich ground vegetation can be achieved by spontaneous colonization within 70-80 years when plantations are contiguous with ancient woods. Formerly cultivated soils are generally well suited for understorey plants of forests on base-rich loamy soils as long as closed canopy conditions are maintained. However, many typical forest species are not able to disperse across open fields and their establishment in isolated stands will require sowing or planting.

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“…Impact of past land use on the patterns of changes in vegetation and soil characteristics has received considerable attention over the last decades, particularly in temperate forest ecosystems in Europe and North America (review in Flinn and Vellend 2005). On abandoned old-fields it is to be expected that nutrient and carbon levels change significantly over time as with the agricultural abandonment no fertilisation is applied anymore and the cessation of harvesting results in biomass accumulation.…”

Section: Effects Of Successional Changes On Soil Chemical Properties mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of tree species on nutrient and light availability: evidence from a permanent plot study of old-field succession

Dölle

Schmidt

2008

Plant Ecol

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This paper compares vegetation composition, light availability, carbon and nutrient pools and Ellenberg indicator values among four old-field successional permanent plots that have received an initial treatment (ploughing, herbicide or sterilisation) prior to being left undisturbed in 1969, a second set of six plots received additional treatments (continued ploughing or mulching until 1982). On all plots species rich pioneer forests developed. Vegetation still varies among plots with different initial treatments: Sterilised plots can be distinguished from the others by dominance of Betula pendula, ploughed plots by Fraxinus excelsior, whereas herbicide-treated plots are intermediate with proportions of both species. By affecting light availability at the ground, tree species in turn influences ground vegetation and soil properties. Light availability turned out to be the dominant factor determining the composition of the vegetation in old-field succession.

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Recovery of Forest Plant Communities in Post-Agricultural Landscapes

Cited by 143 publications

References 38 publications

Responses of Soil Fungi to Logging and Oil Palm Agriculture in Southeast Asian Tropical Forests

Responses of Soil Fungi to Logging and Oil Palm Agriculture in Southeast Asian Tropical Forests

Plant colonization in heterogeneous landscapes: an 80‐year perspective on restoration of broadleaved forest vegetation

Impact of tree species on nutrient and light availability: evidence from a permanent plot study of old-field succession

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