Martin Sykes - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Martin Sykes
Acta Botanica Neerlandica
ABSTRACT Soil salinity affects many coastal communities, but it is not clear to what extent salin... more ABSTRACT Soil salinity affects many coastal communities, but it is not clear to what extent salinity is involved in the distribution of sand dune vegetation. Twenty-nine species (including nine exotic species) found on New Zealand sand dunes were used in a study of root-salinity tolerance. Six concentrations of salt were added to plants grown in water culture; growth rates and the percentage of live material were measured.About half the species were more intolerant of root-salinity than the glycophytic control (wheat). These were mainly native New Zealand herbs and grasses and the introduced species Silene gallica and Lupinus arboreus. Tolerant species included the native species Desmoschoenus spiralis and Scirpoides nodosa. Most tolerant exotic species were grasses; Elymus farctus was the most salt tolerant species tested, and possibly in Barbour's ‘facultative halophyte’ category.Species scores from the first vegetation gradient of an ordination of field data from four dune systems were plotted against results from this study. For some species, root-salinity tolerance correlated with their field position. However, there was little correlation with distributions on West Coast dunes, with some glycophytes growing in the semi-fixed dunes. This was attributable to the high rainfall. On the dry east coast, however, species were more tolerant and their distribution more closely linked to their salinity tolerance.New Zealand dunes contain a mixture of root-salinity tolerant species and root-salinity intolerant species. It is suggested that root-salinity is only one of a complex of environmental factors important on dunes.
GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society
The recently finished EU funded project MACIS reviewed observed and projected climate change impa... more The recently finished EU funded project MACIS reviewed observed and projected climate change impacts on biodiversity. It assessed mitigation and adaptation options. It also reviewed and developed methods to assess future impacts of climate change on biodiversity including the identification of policy options to prevent and minimise these impacts.
GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society
Journal of Biogeography, 2007
... Bennett, KD, Tzedakis, PC & Willis, KJ (1991) Quaternary refugia of North... more ... Bennett, KD, Tzedakis, PC & Willis, KJ (1991) Quaternary refugia of North European trees. ... Björkman, L. & Bradshaw, RHW (1996) The immigration of Fagus sylvatica L. and Picea abies (L.) Karst into a natural forest stand in southern Sweden during the last 2000 years. ...
Journal of Vegetation Science, 2002
Quaternary International, 2007
Future Scenarios of Global Biodiversity, 2001
Journal of Vegetation Science, 2014
ABSTRACT Prentice, I.C., Sykes, M.T. and Cramer, W., 1993. A simulation model for the transient e... more ABSTRACT Prentice, I.C., Sykes, M.T. and Cramer, W., 1993. A simulation model for the transient effects of climate change on forest landscapes. Ecol. Modelling, 65: 51-70. Forests are likely to show,complex,transient responses,to rapid changes,in climate. The
Hemmets Journal, Apr 1, 2007
Global Ecol Biogeogr, 2008
ABSTRACT 1 Advances in dynamic ecosystem modelling have made a number of different approaches to ... more ABSTRACT 1 Advances in dynamic ecosystem modelling have made a number of different approaches to vegetation dynamics possible. Here we compare two models representing contrasting degrees of abstraction of the processes governing dynamics in real vegetation.2 Model (a) (GUESS) simulates explicitly growth and competition among individual plants. Differences in crown structure (height, depth, area and LAI) influence relative light uptake by neighbours. Assimilated carbon is allocated individually by each plant to its leaf, fine root and sapwood tissues. Carbon allocation and turnover of sapwood to heartwood in turn govern height and diameter growth.3 Model (b) (LPJ) incorporates a ‘dynamic global vegetation model’ (DGVM) architecture, simulating growth of populations of plant functional types (PFTs) over a grid cell, integrating individual-level processes over the proportional area (foliar projective cover, FPC) occupied by each PFT. Individual plants are not simulated, but are replaced by explicit parameterizations of their growth and interactions.4 The models are identical in their representation of core physiological and biogeochemical processes. Both also use the same set of PFTs, corresponding to the major woody plant groups in Europe, plus a grass type.5 When applied at a range of locations, broadly spanning climatic variation within Europe, both models successfully predicted PFT composition and succession within modern natural vegetation. However, the individual-based model performed better in areas where deciduous and evergreen types coincide, and in areas subject to pronounced seasonal water deficits, which would tend to favour grasses over drought-intolerant trees.6 Differences in model performance could be traced to their treatment of individual-level processes, in particular light competition and stress-induced mortality.7 Our results suggest that an explicit individual-based approach to vegetation dynamics may be an advantage in modelling of ecosystem structure and function at the resolution required for regional- to continental-scale studies.
Biological Conservation, 2009
The study explores whether small-scale species diversity, species evenness and species richness i... more The study explores whether small-scale species diversity, species evenness and species richness in semi-natural grassland communities are similarly associated with present management regime and/or present and historical landscape context (percentage of different land-cover types in the surroundings). Species diversity, evenness and richness were recorded within 441 50× 50cm grassland plots in 4.5× 4.5 km agricultural landscape on Öland, Sweden. Recent and historical land-cover maps (years 2004, 1959, 1938, 1835 ...
Neobiota from Ecology to Conservation, 2006
Acta Botanica Neerlandica
ABSTRACT Soil salinity affects many coastal communities, but it is not clear to what extent salin... more ABSTRACT Soil salinity affects many coastal communities, but it is not clear to what extent salinity is involved in the distribution of sand dune vegetation. Twenty-nine species (including nine exotic species) found on New Zealand sand dunes were used in a study of root-salinity tolerance. Six concentrations of salt were added to plants grown in water culture; growth rates and the percentage of live material were measured.About half the species were more intolerant of root-salinity than the glycophytic control (wheat). These were mainly native New Zealand herbs and grasses and the introduced species Silene gallica and Lupinus arboreus. Tolerant species included the native species Desmoschoenus spiralis and Scirpoides nodosa. Most tolerant exotic species were grasses; Elymus farctus was the most salt tolerant species tested, and possibly in Barbour's ‘facultative halophyte’ category.Species scores from the first vegetation gradient of an ordination of field data from four dune systems were plotted against results from this study. For some species, root-salinity tolerance correlated with their field position. However, there was little correlation with distributions on West Coast dunes, with some glycophytes growing in the semi-fixed dunes. This was attributable to the high rainfall. On the dry east coast, however, species were more tolerant and their distribution more closely linked to their salinity tolerance.New Zealand dunes contain a mixture of root-salinity tolerant species and root-salinity intolerant species. It is suggested that root-salinity is only one of a complex of environmental factors important on dunes.
GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society
The recently finished EU funded project MACIS reviewed observed and projected climate change impa... more The recently finished EU funded project MACIS reviewed observed and projected climate change impacts on biodiversity. It assessed mitigation and adaptation options. It also reviewed and developed methods to assess future impacts of climate change on biodiversity including the identification of policy options to prevent and minimise these impacts.
GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society
Journal of Biogeography, 2007
... Bennett, KD, Tzedakis, PC & Willis, KJ (1991) Quaternary refugia of North... more ... Bennett, KD, Tzedakis, PC & Willis, KJ (1991) Quaternary refugia of North European trees. ... Björkman, L. & Bradshaw, RHW (1996) The immigration of Fagus sylvatica L. and Picea abies (L.) Karst into a natural forest stand in southern Sweden during the last 2000 years. ...
Journal of Vegetation Science, 2002
Quaternary International, 2007
Future Scenarios of Global Biodiversity, 2001
Journal of Vegetation Science, 2014
ABSTRACT Prentice, I.C., Sykes, M.T. and Cramer, W., 1993. A simulation model for the transient e... more ABSTRACT Prentice, I.C., Sykes, M.T. and Cramer, W., 1993. A simulation model for the transient effects of climate change on forest landscapes. Ecol. Modelling, 65: 51-70. Forests are likely to show,complex,transient responses,to rapid changes,in climate. The
Hemmets Journal, Apr 1, 2007
Global Ecol Biogeogr, 2008
ABSTRACT 1 Advances in dynamic ecosystem modelling have made a number of different approaches to ... more ABSTRACT 1 Advances in dynamic ecosystem modelling have made a number of different approaches to vegetation dynamics possible. Here we compare two models representing contrasting degrees of abstraction of the processes governing dynamics in real vegetation.2 Model (a) (GUESS) simulates explicitly growth and competition among individual plants. Differences in crown structure (height, depth, area and LAI) influence relative light uptake by neighbours. Assimilated carbon is allocated individually by each plant to its leaf, fine root and sapwood tissues. Carbon allocation and turnover of sapwood to heartwood in turn govern height and diameter growth.3 Model (b) (LPJ) incorporates a ‘dynamic global vegetation model’ (DGVM) architecture, simulating growth of populations of plant functional types (PFTs) over a grid cell, integrating individual-level processes over the proportional area (foliar projective cover, FPC) occupied by each PFT. Individual plants are not simulated, but are replaced by explicit parameterizations of their growth and interactions.4 The models are identical in their representation of core physiological and biogeochemical processes. Both also use the same set of PFTs, corresponding to the major woody plant groups in Europe, plus a grass type.5 When applied at a range of locations, broadly spanning climatic variation within Europe, both models successfully predicted PFT composition and succession within modern natural vegetation. However, the individual-based model performed better in areas where deciduous and evergreen types coincide, and in areas subject to pronounced seasonal water deficits, which would tend to favour grasses over drought-intolerant trees.6 Differences in model performance could be traced to their treatment of individual-level processes, in particular light competition and stress-induced mortality.7 Our results suggest that an explicit individual-based approach to vegetation dynamics may be an advantage in modelling of ecosystem structure and function at the resolution required for regional- to continental-scale studies.
Biological Conservation, 2009
The study explores whether small-scale species diversity, species evenness and species richness i... more The study explores whether small-scale species diversity, species evenness and species richness in semi-natural grassland communities are similarly associated with present management regime and/or present and historical landscape context (percentage of different land-cover types in the surroundings). Species diversity, evenness and richness were recorded within 441 50× 50cm grassland plots in 4.5× 4.5 km agricultural landscape on Öland, Sweden. Recent and historical land-cover maps (years 2004, 1959, 1938, 1835 ...
Neobiota from Ecology to Conservation, 2006