The soil seed bank and its relationship to the established vegetation in urban wastelands

Albrecht, Harald; Eder, Elisabeth; Langbehn, Thomas; Tschiersch, Clara

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.11.011

Cited by 38 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…In this study, we also found that the seed bank in the upper soil layer was mostly significant higher than that in the deeper soil layer in the native grassland, abandoned artificial grassland, and artificial grassland, which was consistent with many other studies (e.g., [41,42]). However, there was no significant differences in the soil seed bank between the upper and deeper soil layers in the farmland (with severe disturbance) due to its frequent and deep ploughing [43], which indicated that the severe disturbance totally changed the vertical distribution of the soil seed bank besides its composition.…”

Section: Effects Of Disturbance On Soil Seed Bank and Vegetationsupporting

confidence: 92%

Responses of Soil Seed Bank and Vegetation to the Increasing Intensity of Human Disturbance in a Semi-Arid Region of Northern China

Xiao

Wang

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:To provide more insights into the responses of the soil seed bank and vegetation to human disturbance intensity, we selected four land use types, including: native grassland (no human disturbance), abandoned artificial grassland (light human disturbance), artificial grassland (moderate human disturbance), and farmland (severe human disturbance) in a semi-arid climate of northern China. The species composition and density of the soil seed bank were measured, as well as the species composition and amount of vegetation. The native grassland had a significantly higher soil seed density and species richness than the other land use types. Moreover, the common species both in the soil seed bank and vegetation between the native grassland and other land use types gradually decreased as disturbance intensity increased. The abandoned artificial grassland and artificial grassland still had abundant soil seed banks according to their seed density (≥28.2% of the native grassland) and species richness (≥70.0% of the native grassland) to restore the vegetation. Conversely, it was hard to restore the vegetation on the farmland due to its low soil seed density (10.0% of the native grassland) and species richness (40.0% of the native grassland). In conclusion, human disturbance would generate significant negative effects on the soil seed bank in desertified regions in a semi-arid climate; however, the soil seed bank in land use types with light/moderate disturbance are more adapted to vegetation restoration compared with land use types with severe disturbance in a semi-arid region.

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Section: Effects Of Disturbance On Soil Seed Bank and Vegetationsupporting

confidence: 92%

Responses of Soil Seed Bank and Vegetation to the Increasing Intensity of Human Disturbance in a Semi-Arid Region of Northern China

Xiao

Wang

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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“…In urban ecosystems, people not only actively move species around, regardless of their innate dispersal abilities, but also facilitate the establishment of very vagile species (Albrecht et al. ; McConkey et al. ; von der Lippe & Kowarik ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Species vary in their dispersal ability. In urban ecosystems, people not only actively move species around, regardless of their innate dispersal abilities, but also facilitate the establishment of very vagile species (Albrecht et al 2011;McConkey et al 2012;von der Lippe & Kowarik 2012). Dispersal rates between patches in the urban landscape alter the relative contribution of local diversity and compositional turnover to overall regional diversity patterns (Mouquet & Loreau 2003;Aicher et al 2011;Schleicher et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential organization of taxonomic and functional diversity in an urban woody plant metacommunity

Swan

Johnson

Nowak

2016

Applied Vegetation Science

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Questions Urban ecosystems present an opportunity to study ecological communities in the context of unprecedented environmental change. In the face of urban land conversion, ecologists observe new patterns of species composition, dominance, behaviour and dispersal. We propose a hypothetical socioeconomic template that describes a gradient in human investment in community composition to aid in organizing the human role in shaping urban biodiversity. We asked: (1) what is the relative magnitude of taxonomic and functional turnover of urban woody plant communities across different land‐use types; and (2) do land uses exhibiting higher intensity of human management of biodiversity support higher turnover over those with less human influence? Location Baltimore, MD, USA (39°17′ N, 76°38′ W). Methods We examined patterns in woody plant biodiversity across 209 plots of different urban land uses. Six land‐use types were arranged along a gradient in the intensity through which humans are hypothesized to manage species composition at the plot scale. We calculated local, or α‐diversity, and compositional turnover, or β‐diversity, of taxonomic and functional diversity across plots within each land‐use type. We compared the magnitude of these biodiversity measures between land uses to test our conceptual template for how the intensity of human management can predict urban woody plant biodiversity. Results We observed high taxonomic turnover in residential and commercial plots compared with vacant or open space land‐use areas. This was associated with a weaker, but similar, pattern in functional diversity. This was associated with low total abundance in residential and commercial plots. Furthermore, the number of unique species was extremely high in the same land‐use types. Conclusions Our observations help explain why turnover can be high in heavily managed plots relative to vacant land. In patches without heavy human management, we found low levels of turnover. This highlights the importance of assessing diversity both locally and at the level of turnover between patches. Management and policy can benefit from the perspective embodied in the conceptual approach tested here.

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“…the ability to produce biochemical agents that the growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms. Many other examples are referenced in the literature on the presence and sometimes dominance of non-native weedy species in transportation verges (Ernst 1998;Parendes and Jones 2000;Tikka et al 2001;Gelbard and Belnap 2003;Albrecht et al 2011;McAvoy et al 2012;Penone et al 2012;Suárez-Esteban et al 2016). Even maritime or wetland species may spread their populations into inland areas along railway and road verges, as found in Finland (Suominen 1970), England (Scott and Davison 1982), or the USA (Wilcox 1989).…”

Section: Verges As Habitat and Corridors For Non-native Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aliens on the Move: Transportation Networks and Non-native Species

Ascensão

Capinha

2017

Railway Ecology

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Biological invasions are a major component of global environmental change, threatening biodiversity and human well-being. These invasions have their origin in the human-mediated transportation of species beyond natural distribution ranges, a process that has increased by orders of magnitude in recent decades as a result of accelerating rates of international trade, travel, and transport. In this chapter, we address the role that overland transportation corridors, particularly railways, have in the transport of non-native species. We focus specifically on the role of rail vehicles in dispersing stowaway species, i.e. species that are moved inadvertently and that are not specific to the commodities being transported; we also focus on the natural dispersal and establishment of non-native species along railway edges. We place these processes in the context of biological invasions as a global phenomenon and provide examples from the literature. We also list general management recommendations for biological invasions highlighting the particularities associated with their management in railway transport systems. Following previous studies, we briefly outline four possible management approaches: (1) "Do nothing;" (2) "Manage propagule supply;" (3) "Manage railway environments;" and (4) "Act over the invasive populations directly". These approaches are not mutually exclusive, and they range from an expectation that natural processes (e.g. ecological succession) will drive the invaders out of the ecosystems, to the application of Fernando Ascensão and César Capinha have contributed equally to this chapter. measures to extirpate the invaders directly (e.g. manual removal). We highlight that best practices for the management of invaders in railway-related systems may be difficult to generalize and that they may have to be considered on a case-by-case basis. We end by stressing that research on railways in the context of biological invasions remains scarce, and that fundamental knowledge for understanding the relative importance of this transport system in the dispersal of species and on how this process should be dealt with remains largely lacking.

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The soil seed bank and its relationship to the established vegetation in urban wastelands

Cited by 38 publications

References 33 publications

Responses of Soil Seed Bank and Vegetation to the Increasing Intensity of Human Disturbance in a Semi-Arid Region of Northern China

Responses of Soil Seed Bank and Vegetation to the Increasing Intensity of Human Disturbance in a Semi-Arid Region of Northern China

Differential organization of taxonomic and functional diversity in an urban woody plant metacommunity

Aliens on the Move: Transportation Networks and Non-native Species

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