Vegetation and Ecosystem

Leuschner, Christoph

doi:10.1002/9781118452592.ch10

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…Its importance for the recognition of biomes accounts for its worldwide use in the classification of large regional ecosystems (Kent & Coker, 2003;Leuschner, 2013), since it distinguishes vegetation types based on their physiognomy (formations) (Mueller-Dombois & Ellenberg, 2002;Box & Fujiwara, 2013). The vegetation's physiognomy depends on the dominant plants and their form or structure (form of growth and lifeforms).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediterranean landscapes and plant communities relationship

Álvarez

Alcántara-Manzanares

2017

Lazaroa

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Abstract. On the basis of an earlier landscape classification of Huelva (Andalusia, Spain) using the Twinspan multivariate classification method, which resulted in eight landscape types, the study sought to test the hypothesis that a relationship may exist between landscape types and plant communities. Samples of serial scrub communities were examined by stratified sampling between landscape types. Samples were classified using phytosociological and Twinspan methods. After merging landscape types and Twinspan-classified community types, the possible association between the two was analysed by means of a two-way contingency table between five landscape units and five plant communities. Findings enabled the null hypothesis, i.e. that both descriptors were independent, to be rejected. Given the high degree of overall agreement between phytosociological and multivariate plant community classifications, inter-community variation was studied via ecological characterization of the syntaxa identified. The results indicated that parent material played a more important role than climate-related variables in accounting for this variation. This conclusion supports the role assigned to each of the two factors in the biogeographical domain, according to the scale of the study. Keywords: Landscape characterization; Mediterranean scrub; Twinspan, phytosociology; Huelva (Andalusia).[es] Paisajes mediterráneos y su relación con las comunidades vegetales Resumen. A partir de la realización previa de una clasificación del paisaje de Huelva (Andalucía, España) mediante el uso del método multivariante de clasificación Twinspan, con la diferenciación de ocho tipos de paisaje, se ha planteado la hipótesis de la posible existencia de una relación tipos de paisajes-comunidades vegetales. El estudio se ha realizado a partir de comunidades de matorrales bajos, muestreados de forma estratificada entre los tipos de paisajes. Las muestras fueron clasificadas según la metodología fitosociológica y según el Twinspan. Después de un proceso de fusión entre tipos de paisajes, por una parte, y tipos de comunidades (según clasificación Twinspan) por otra, se ha procedido a un análisis de la posible asociación entre paisajes y comunidades. Este análisis, realizado mediante tabla de contingencia de doble vía entre cinco unidades de síntesis de paisajes y cinco de comunidades vegetales, ha permitido rechazar la hipótesis nula de que ambos descriptores fueran independientes. A partir de la buena correspondencia global entre la clasificación fitosociológica y la multivariante de las comunidades, se ha realizado un análisis de la variación entre comunidades en base a la caracterización ecológica de los sintaxones identificados. Del mismo se ha concluido el papel más determinante del material parental frente a variables climáticas, para explicar esta variación. Lo que concuerda con el papel atribuido a unas y otras en el ámbito biogeográfico, según la escala de estudio.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mediterranean landscapes and plant communities relationship

Álvarez

Alcántara-Manzanares

2017

Lazaroa

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Assembly of modern mammal community structure driven by Late Cretaceous dental evolution, rise of flowering plants, and dinosaur demise

Chen

Strömberg

Wilson

2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The long-standing view that Mesozoic mammaliaforms living in dinosaur-dominated ecosystems were ecologically constrained to small size and insectivory has been challenged by astonishing fossil discoveries over the last three decades. By studying these well-preserved early mammaliaform specimens, paleontologists now agree that mammaliaforms underwent ecomorphological diversification during the Mesozoic Era. This implies that Mesozoic mammaliaform communities had ecological structure and breadth that were comparable to today’s small-bodied mammalian communities. However, this hypothesis remains untested in part because the primary focus of most studies is on individual taxa. Here, we present a study quantifying the ecological structure of Mesozoic mammaliaform communities with the aim of identifying evolutionary and ecological drivers that influenced the deep-time assembly of small-bodied mammaliaform communities. We used body size, dietary preference, and locomotor mode to establish the ecospace occupation of 98 extant, small-bodied mammalian communities from diverse biomes around the world. We calculated ecological disparity and ecological richness to measure the magnitude of ecological differences among species in a community and the number of different eco-cells occupied by species of a community, respectively. This modern dataset served as a reference for analyzing five exceptionally preserved, extinct mammaliaform communities (two Jurassic, two Cretaceous, one Eocene) from Konservat-Lagerstätten. Our results indicate that the interplay of at least three factors, namely the evolution of the tribosphenic molar, the ecological rise of angiosperms, and potential competition with other vertebrates, may have been critical in shaping the ecological structure of small-bodied mammaliaform communities through time.

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Vegetation and Ecosystem

Cited by 2 publications

References 26 publications

Mediterranean landscapes and plant communities relationship

Mediterranean landscapes and plant communities relationship

Assembly of modern mammal community structure driven by Late Cretaceous dental evolution, rise of flowering plants, and dinosaur demise

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