Species richness, alien species and plant traits in Central Argentine mountain grasslands

Abstract

Pattern of native vegetation, distribution of alien species and variation of environmental parameters were studied in mountain grasslands in a lithologically homogeneous Córdoba mountain range in Central Argentina. CCA showed that altitude was the most important factor determining the compositional variation of the vegetation, with soil nutrient status and stoniness as additional factors. Short-grass communities, associated with the driest habitats on plateaus, showed higher small-scale native species richness than wet-turf communities in valleys and tall-grass communities on slopes. Species richness was negatively correlated with soil parameters that indicate nutrient status and water availability. Also, there was a negative correlation between soil Ca-and Mgcontent and richness. High native species richness coincided with high alien species richness. When smaller units -community types -were considered, it became evident that within short-grass vegetation, the three most species-rich community types contained significant numbers of alien species, while the other two did not. Even within one community type, the same quadrats that contained the highest number of native species, were also characterized by the highest numbers of alien species. Evidently, the same mechanism was responsible for high richness of both native and alien species. Alien species were distinguished by a greater proportion of annuals and prostrate stoloniferous plants, by lower palatability and by smaller proportion of zoochory.DCA ordination of quadrats on the basis of plant traits as attributes resulted in a clear distinction of three main vegetation types. Short-grass vegetation was distinguished by a predomination of late flowering species, tall-grass vegetation by the presence of high herbaceous plants and bushes, and wet-turf vegetation by the presence of plants with storage organs, the lack of hairy leaves, and by a high proportion of cryptophytes. Quadrats with and without alien species were distinguished as well, indicating that the occurrence of aliens may be dependent on plant traits in a particular patch of a community.

Plant invasions along roads: a case study from central highlands, India

“…At smaller scale the high herb species richness were also characterized by highest number of non-native species were similar to the findings of Cantero et al (2003) from central Argentine mountain grasslands. Thus these results do not favour the hypothesis of Elton (1958), which states, that areas of high species diversity prevent invasions (Robinson and Quinn 1988;Timmins and Williams 1991;Stohlgren et al 1999;Cantero et al 2003). Although most of the forest edges are highly invaded by Lantana camara (Raizada et al 2008).…”

Altitudinal distribution of native and alien plant species in roadside communities from central Argentina

“…Although the proportion of exotic species was relatively low compared with a study from Chile (Pauchard & Alaback 2004), it was higher than those recorded off‐roadsides in natural grassland communities (Pucheta et al . 1998; Cantero et al . 2003) and in the seed banks of the study area (Funes et al .…”

“…Contrarily, and despite three centuries of heavy grazing, these mesic mountain grasslands show a limited number of alien plant taxa both in standing vegetation (Pucheta et al . 1998; Cantero et al . 1999, 2003) and in seed banks (Funes et al .…”

Exploring the drivers of vascular plant richness at very fine spatial scale in sub-Mediterranean limestone grasslands (Central Apennines, Italy)

“…A large number of studies found that grassland species richness in Europe and N-America was reduced on soils with high moisture and nutrients, while attained maximum values at sites with relatively dry, nutrientpoor and shallow soils (reviews by Grace 1999 andby Keddy 2005; see also Bennie et al 2006;Bonanomi et al 2006;Maccherini 2006;Moeslund et al 2013b;Baumann et al 2016;Kleinebecker et al 2018;Palpurina et al 2019). Even in a different floristic kingdom, Cantero et al (2003) found that in mountain grasslands in Argentina, species richness of 1-m 2 quadrats had a negative relationship with soil depth and available water, and a positive correlation with stone cover. This is consistent with the classical model of humped-back relationship between productivity and richness, usually explained assuming that in very productive sites a few strong competitors will create closed canopies and accumulate litter, reducing the amount of light reaching soil surface and outcompeting stress-tolerant species that have lower growth rates (e.g.…”