Species diversity and life history traits in calcareous grasslands vary along an urbanization gradient

Albrecht, Harald; Haider, Sylvia

doi:10.1007/s10531-013-0437-0

Cited by 44 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…The reason why the past cover of dry grasslands in the surrounding landscape was strongly related to the present performance of the studied populations is a time lag in the reaction of the studied species to loss of habitat area and connectivity. Functional connectivity, or the realized exchange of pollen or propagules between populations, is crucial in reducing genetic drift and inbreeding within the populations, increasing their overall fitness and performance (Rico et al , Auffret et al ). Historically, functional connectivity between grassland species populations was facilitated by rotational grazing between grasslands (Fischer et al , Rico et al , Plue and Cousins ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following the extensive loss of semi‐natural grasslands during the 20th century in Europe (Luoto et al , Wittig et al 2010, Cousins et al ), many grassland species have been restricted to isolated populations in fragmented remnant habitats (Fischer and Stöcklin , Wesche et al , Plue and Cousins ). The most important causes for grassland loss and fragmentation are continent‐wide changes in agriculture and land cover, such as pasture abandonment (Öckinger et al ) and afforestation (Cousins et al ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Small populations of short‐lived specialist species that rely on annual seed production and have low dispersal abilities are likely to suffer the most from habitat loss. Consequently, such populations may disappear rapidly from habitat remnants with deteriorating conditions (Fischer and Stöcklin , Schleicher et al 2011, Saar et al ). Large populations of perennial species capable of vegetative reproduction and long‐distance dispersal may, in turn, persist for long periods in remnant habitats with suboptimal conditions and present extinction debts (Maurer et al , Honnay and Bossuyt , Schleuning and Matthies , Piqueray et al 2011, Lehtilä et al 2016, Bagaria et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Disturbance, microclimate and historical habitat connectivity determine the population performance of the threatened grassland specialist Carex caryophyllea in remnant grasslands

Lampinen

2019

Nordic Journal of Botany

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Many grassland specialist plant populations in Europe have become restricted to remnant habitats. The performance of these populations depends on both species‐specific traits and local and landscape level aspects of habitat quality. Understanding which specific local or landscape level conditions determine the performance of grassland species populations in remnant habitats would help design the restoration of the habitats and to detect the conditions that favour the long‐term persistence of grassland species in them. Such information is especially needed in urbanised landscapes, where remnant habitats engulfed by urban land use types may experience increased erosion, higher temperatures and invasion by alien species. This study investigates the population performance determinants of Carex caryophyllea (VU), a grassland specialist, in 43 remnant grasslands in an urban‐rural gradient in Finland. The population performance was assessed with metrics of persistence, establishment and reproduction, and related to environmental conditions with generalized additive models and redundancy analysis. The most important positive determinants for the performance of C. caryophyllea populations were disturbance through management or ground erosion, a warm microclimate, large habitat area and high historical connectivity to suitable grassland habitats. Present connectivity to other C. caryophyllea populations had a weak and near‐significant positive relationship with population performance. Urbanisation of the surrounding landscape correlated with population performance as well, possibly due to the high historical cover of grasslands in presently urbanised landscapes. The results imply that the most effective restoration method of remnant C. caryophyllea populations would be reinstating disturbance regimes in overgrown habitats with warm microclimates close to suitable habitats and other existing populations, whether urban or rural. This would counteract the species future decline due to possible extinction debts and help the species persist in the study area in the long term.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Disturbance, microclimate and historical habitat connectivity determine the population performance of the threatened grassland specialist Carex caryophyllea in remnant grasslands

Lampinen

2019

Nordic Journal of Botany

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“…For example, urban grassland studies in Finland, Germany, Kazakhstan and South Africa have all reported increases in non‐native species and declines in native species, with thermal radiation, increased resource availability and changes to natural disturbance regimes implicated as possible drivers (Manninen et al. ; Albrecht & Haider ; Vakhlamova et al. ; van der Walt et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic homogenization in an increasingly urbanized temperate grassland ecosystem

Zeeman

McDonnell

Kendal

et al. 2017

J Vegetation Science

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Question How does urbanization and associated declines in fire frequency alter the floristic composition of native temperate grasslands? Does it lead to: (1) biotic homogenization, i.e. compositional similarity between remnants increases; (2) biotic differentiation, whereby similarity between remnants declines, or; (3) clustered differentiation, where similarity between remnants remains unchanged, but composition shifts from the historical state? Location Victoria, Australia. Methods Using site‐level surveys, we examined changes in the floristic similarity of 29 urban grasslands from 1992 to 2013 and compared these changes to those of 63 rural grasslands from 1989 to 2014. Community‐level changes in the representation of key functional traits were also examined in urban grasslands, with traits advantaged following disturbance regime change and urban fragmentation predicted to increase in frequency. Results Our results supported the biotic homogenization hypothesis in urban grasslands. Compositional similarity between grasslands increased principally because of an increase in commonly shared non‐native species, with change in native composition comparatively minor. However, no evidence of biotic homogenization was found in rural grasslands, with no significant change in overall composition identified. The most urbanized sites had the highest number of non‐native species in both the current and historical data sets, yet non‐native composition over the past two decades changed the most in sites on the urban fringe, becoming more similar to sites closer to the urban core. As expected, following declines in fire frequency and increased urbanization, the overall composition of urban grasslands shifted to taller plant species, while native species capable of vegetative reproduction and exotic species with an annual life span increased in frequency. Conclusion Urbanization was an important driver of biodiversity change in the investigated system, with increasing competition intensity in response to disturbance regime change a likely cause of biotic homogenization. Our results demonstrate that non‐native species are a key driver of biotic homogenization, emphasizing the importance of managing non‐native immigration and maintaining historical disturbance processes once native ecosystems become urbanized.

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“…The following two contributions study effects along spatial gradients. Albrecht and Haider (2013) analyse effects of urbanisation (one of the main reason for decreasing grassland habitats) along a spatio-temporal urbanisation gradient from traditionally managed to urban developments. Area and diversity of traditional calcareous grasslands strongly decreased due to urbanisation; nevertheless, urban habitats support a specific group of endangered species.…”

Section: Temporal and Spatial Gradientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

European grassland ecosystems: threatened hotspots of biodiversity

et al. 2013

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Biodiversity is not homogenously distributed over the globe, and ecosystems differ strongly in the number of species they provide. With this special issue we highlight the ecology and endangerment of one of the most diverse ecosystem of Europe: the European grassland ecosystems. The selected 16 contributions describe interactions from below-ground to the atmosphere and focus on (1) effects of abiotic and biotic on species diversity, (2) the impact of various factors along spatial and temporal gradients, (3) the

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Species diversity and life history traits in calcareous grasslands vary along an urbanization gradient

Cited by 44 publications

References 52 publications

Disturbance, microclimate and historical habitat connectivity determine the population performance of the threatened grassland specialist Carex caryophyllea in remnant grasslands

Disturbance, microclimate and historical habitat connectivity determine the population performance of the threatened grassland specialist Carex caryophyllea in remnant grasslands

Biotic homogenization in an increasingly urbanized temperate grassland ecosystem

European grassland ecosystems: threatened hotspots of biodiversity

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