Unexpected ecotone dynamics of a sand dune vegetation complex following water table decline

Tölgyesi, Csaba; Zalatnai, Márta; Erdős, László; Bátori, Zoltán; Hupp, Nicole; Körmöczi, László

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtv032

Cited by 23 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The soil is coarse grained calcareous arenosol with low organic matter content. Groundwater is usually more than 3 meters below the soil surface (Tölgyesi et al 2015). The potential vegetation is forest-steppe, i.e.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underground deserts below fertility islands? – Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Tölgyesi

Török

Hábenczyus

et al. 2020

Preprint

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4Woody plants in water-limited ecosystems affect their environment on multiple scales: 5 locally, natural stands can create islands of fertility for herb layer communities compared to 6 open habitats, but afforestation has been shown to negatively affect regional water balance 7 and productivity. Despite these contrasting observations, no coherent multiscale framework 8 has been developed for the environmental effects of woody plants in water-limited 9 ecosystems. To link local and regional effects of woody species in a spatially explicit model, 10 we simultaneously measured site conditions (microclimate, nutrient availability and topsoil 11 moisture) and conditions of regional relevance (deeper soil moisture), in forests with different 12 canopy types (long, intermediate and short annual lifetime) and adjacent grasslands in sandy 13 drylands. All types of forests ameliorated site conditions compared to adjacent grasslands, 14 although natural stands did so more effectively than managed ones. At the same time, all 15 forests desiccated deeper soil layers during the vegetation period, and the longer the canopy 16 lifetime, the more severe the desiccation in summer and more delayed the recharge after the 17 active period of the canopy. We conclude that the site-scale environmental amelioration 18 brought about by woody species is bound to co-occur with the desiccation of deeper soil 19layers, leading to deficient ground water recharge. This means that the cost of creating islands 20 of fertility for sensitive herb layer organisms is an inevitable negative impact on regional 21 water balance. The canopy type or management intensity of the forests affects the magnitude 22 but not the direction of these effects. The outlined framework of the effects of woody species 23 should be considered for the conservation, restoration, or profit-oriented use of forests as well 24 2 as in forest-based carbon sequestration and soil erosion control projects in water-limited 25 ecosystems. 26 27

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underground deserts below fertility islands? – Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Tölgyesi

Török

Hábenczyus

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…The study site is located in the Kiskunság National Park, central Hungary (N47°02–07′ E19°09–18′, 92–94 m asl). The climate is continental with an annual precipitation of 500–600 mm (maximum in June) and a mean temperature of approximately 11°C (Tölgyesi et al, ). Two prevailing soil types can be found in the study region: coarse‐textured calcareous sandy soils in the eastern part and fine‐textured soils composed of a mixture of loess and loamy alluvial deposits in the western side; the demarcation line between the two areas is sharp.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery of species richness lags behind functional recovery in restored grasslands

Tölgyesi¹,

Török²,

Kun

et al. 2019

Land Degrad Dev

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Restoration of grasslands on abandoned croplands is a major opportunity for land development in degraded landscapes. In this study, we compared the success of three restoration measures, spontaneous recovery, perennial‐crop–mediated restoration, and sowing native grasses, by using a unique combination of species‐based and trait‐based approaches. We sampled 373 4‐m2 plots in nearly 1,000 ha of 20‐year‐old–restored grasslands and 72 4‐m2 plots in three neighbouring ancient grasslands. Species richness and target species cover were higher in spontaneously recovered sites than in other restored sites, but reference sites had higher scores than all restored sites. Spontaneous sites had higher functional diversity than the other restored sites. Spontaneous and reference sites showed little difference in their functional diversity and in the community‐weighted means of relevant traits. Our findings indicate that the establishment limitation effect of the initial application of perennial crops or sowing competitive grasses can last for decades, hindering the recolonization of target species and the recovery of functional diversity; thus, they should be applied in landscapes with high cover of natural habitats only when inhibiting undesirable species is of paramount importance. The similar levels of functional niche saturation in spontaneous and reference sites may also indicate a self‐developed establishment‐limited situation after 20 years of succession. In combination with this, the lagging recovery of species richness entails lower functional redundancy in spontaneous sites. Our results underline the necessity of postrestorative management methods that reduce establishment limitation and contribute to the recolonization and subsequent coexistence of functionally similar species.

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“…; Tölgyesi et al. ), the vegetation survey should be carried out without substantial destruction of the study site, to avoid artefacts in the results. Since two‐dimensional detailed sampling inevitably entails a considerable level of disturbance (trampling the vegetation), transect sampling can be a better choice in these cases.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thirty transect data sets were taken from dry grassland habitats, including a 15‐yr time series in a permanent transect (Tölgyesi et al. ), eight forest steppe habitats (Erdős et al. ), four steppe–wetland transitions in the Hungarian Great Plain, and eight forested habitats from the Hungarian Mountain Range (Bátori et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of randomization tests in vegetation boundary detection with moving split‐window analysis

Körmöczi

Bátori

Erdős

et al. 2016

J Vegetation Science

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Aim Moving split‐window (MSW) analysis is a frequently used tool for vegetation boundary detection. The statistical test of the method is, however, not satisfactory. We aimed to identify reliable confidence limits of MSW statistics. Methods Multivariate transect data (representing forest, grassland and forest‐steppe habitats and some artificial data sets) were analysed using five dissimilarity functions and two randomization methods to find the most efficient procedure. We tested the normality of distribution of the dissimilarity values, and then compared the effect of plot randomization and random shift randomization on the power of the statistic. We evaluated the scale dependence of the dissimilarity/distance values and confidence limits. Results The distribution of expected dissimilarity values deviated from a normal distribution, and in all analyses appeared to be skewed to the right. The rate of deviation depends on the data set, on the spatial scale (window size) and on the type of randomization. Expected mean dissimilarity decreased considerably with increasing window width when plot randomization was applied, but was more balanced if random shift was used. Consequently, normalized dissimilarity values increased rapidly with window width in plot randomization, causing extreme scale dependence and false significance. The analysis with random shift distinguished between significant and non‐significant peaks at every window size. Conclusions We suggest the use of the random shift permutation as a new method in the MSW analysis, since it minimizes the scale dependence of standardized dissimilarity values, making a clear distinction between significant and non‐significant discontinuities.

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Unexpected ecotone dynamics of a sand dune vegetation complex following water table decline

Cited by 23 publications

References 38 publications

Underground deserts below fertility islands? – Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Underground deserts below fertility islands? – Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Recovery of species richness lags behind functional recovery in restored grasslands

The role of randomization tests in vegetation boundary detection with moving split‐window analysis

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