Biogeographical study of West Siberian hemiboreal forest associations with species range overlay methods (original) (raw)
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Predicting the geographical distribution of plant communities
Ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation are usually implemented using information of several targeted species or cover-types and usually do not include information about communities. This is not because community-level information is unimportant for management purposes, but because the detailed fieldwork required for gathering community-level information at the scale for ecosystem management is usually impractical. We propose two methods to estimate the geographical distribution of plant communities with the objectives of covering large areas with minimal field efforts. The first method estimates the geographical distribution of plant communities by combining clustering methods with vegetation modeling, and the second extrapolates the geographical distribution of gradients in plant communities by combining gradient analysis with vegetation modeling. Vegetation modeling with clustering methods can be used to allocate sites with potentially higher alpha diversity, with the benefit of having a list of species associated with the clustered type. Vegetation modeling with gradient analysis can be used to identify regions with potentially the highest beta diversity by means of selecting regions with the widest range or highest variability in major DCA axes scores, and thereby help to preserve the scope of environmental conditions that lead to diversity in species assemblages. This is especially important because biological entities such as species, communities, or even ecosystems may cease to exist in the long run, and the preservation of processes that lead to biodiversity will eventually become more meaningful. We conclude that new methods to study and manage the processes that contribute to biodiversity at all scales should be and can be developed.
Local ranges of phytosociological associations: are they reflected in numerical classification?
In the tradition of European phytosociology, delimitations of vegetation units such as associations are mostly based on data from small areas where more detailed vegetation sampling has been carried out. Such locally delimited vegetation units are often accepted in large-scale synthetic classifications, e.g. national vegetation monographs, and tentatively assigned to a small geographical range, forming groups of similar (vicarious) vegetation units in different small areas. These vicarious units, however, often overlap in species composition and are difficult to recognize from each other. We demonstrate this issue using an example of the classification of dry grasslands (Festuco-Brometea) in the Czech Republic. The standard vegetation classification of the Czech Republic supposes that the majority of accepted associations (66 out of 68) have a restricted distribution in one of the two major regions, Bohemia or Moravia. We compared the classification into traditional associations with the numerical classification of 1440 phytosociological relevés from the Czech Republic, in order to test whether the traditionally recognized associations with small geographical ranges are reflected in numerical classification. In various comparisons, the groups of relevés identified by numerical analysis occupied larger areas than the traditional associations. This suggests that with consistent use of total species composition as the vegetation classification criterion, the resulting classification will usually include more vegetation units with larger geographical ranges, while many of the traditional local associations will disappear.
Świerkosz K. 2009. Species-area relationships of plant communities and the possibility of predicting plant species diversity – a case study in South-Western Poland. Acta Botanica Silesiaca Monographiae. 5: 1:180, 2009
The main aim of this study was to consider the possibility of predicting the number of plant species in areas occupied by many different habitat types. A very simple mathematical model was proposed for this purpose. It is based on two fundamental assumptions: first – every single type of community has its own species-area model relationship, second – the number of species common to various types of habitats allometrically depends on the number of habitats and on their quality. In order to test the proposed model, first the species-area relationships for single community types should be counted. Basic data were obtained from phytosociological tables published for SW Poland in 1960–2002. Each set of patches of a plant community, represented in one phytosociological table, was treated as one, compact habitat island of a size comparable to the joint acreage of the patches. The research covered all literature-documented plant communities from SW Poland – in all 750 phytosociological tables including 223 associations and plant communities. The data on 173 syntaxa compiled in 667 tables were used in the analysis – the remaining tables were represented by insufficient numbers of syntaxa (fewer than five), or by insufficient number of phytosociological releves (three or fewer). The species-area relationship models for 57 types of communities were counted this way. The next step involved substituting the results of the single SPAR models in the previously proposed -diversity allometric model. The model was tested on 13 different-sized and 18 equal-sized areas in SW. Poland using GIS tools. In both cases the differences between the actual and predicted number of plant species does not exceed 12%. The consequences of the obtained results were discussed in the light of the main problems implied in the issue of species-area relationship.
International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS)
International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's Who
New Zealand's forest and shrubland communities: 506 a quantitative classifi cation based on a nationally representative plot network N. Ermakov & O. Morozova-Syntaxonomical survey of boreal oligotrophic pine forests in northern 524 Europe and Western Siberia J. Bölöni, Z. Botta-Dukát, E. Illyés & Z. Molnár-Hungarian landscape types: classifi cation of landscapes 537 based on the relative cover of (semi-) natural habitats G. Miehe, K. Bach, S. Miehe, J. Kluge, Y. Yongping, L. Duo, S. Co & K. Wesche-Alpine steppe plant 547 communities of the Tibetan highlands K. Wesche & H. von Wehrden-Surveying Southern Mongolia: application of multivariate classifi cation 561 methods in drylands with low diversity and long fl oristic gradients
Ecography, 2004
Ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation are usually implemented using information of several targeted species or cover-types and usually do not include information about communities. This is not because community-level information is unimportant for management purposes, but because the detailed fieldwork required for gathering community-level information at the scale for ecosystem management is usually impractical. We propose two methods to estimate the geographical distribution of plant communities with the objectives of covering large areas with minimal field efforts. The first method estimates the geographical distribution of plant communities by combining clustering methods with vegetation modeling, and the second extrapolates the geographical distribution of gradients in plant communities by combining gradient analysis with vegetation modeling. Vegetation modeling with clustering methods can be used to allocate sites with potentially higher alpha diversity, with the benefit of having a list of species associated with the clustered type. Vegetation modeling with gradient analysis can be used to identify regions with potentially the highest beta diversity by means of selecting regions with the widest range or highest variability in major DCA axes scores, and thereby help to preserve the scope of environmental conditions that lead to diversity in species assemblages. This is especially important because biological entities such as species, communities, or even ecosystems may cease to exist in the long run, and the preservation of processes that lead to biodiversity will eventually become more meaningful. We conclude that new methods to study and manage the processes that contribute to biodiversity at all scales should be and can be developed.
PLoS ONE, 2013
The definition of biogeographic regions provides a fundamental framework for a range of basic and applied questions in biogeography, evolutionary biology, systematics and conservation. Previous research suggested that environmental forcing results in highly congruent regionalization patterns across taxa, but that the size and number of regions depends on the dispersal ability of the taxa considered. We produced a biogeographic regionalization of European bryophytes and hypothesized that (1) regions defined for bryophytes would differ from those defined for other taxa due to the highly specific eco-physiology of the group and (2) their high dispersal ability would result in the resolution of few, large regions. Species distributions were recorded using 10,000 km 2 MGRS pixels. Because of the lack of data across large portions of the area, species distribution models employing macroclimatic variables as predictors were used to determine the potential composition of empty pixels. K-means clustering analyses of the pixels based on their potential species composition were employed to define biogeographic regions. The optimal number of regions was determined by v-fold cross-validation and Moran's I statistic. The spatial congruence of the regions identified from their potential bryophyte assemblages with largescale vegetation patterns is at odds with our primary hypothesis. This reinforces the notion that post-glacial migration patterns might have been much more similar in bryophytes and vascular plants than previously thought. The substantially lower optimal number of clusters and the absence of nested patterns within the main biogeographic regions, as compared to identical analyses in vascular plants, support our second hypothesis. The modelling approach implemented here is, however, based on many assumptions that are discussed but can only be tested when additional data on species distributions become available, highlighting the substantial importance of developing integrated mapping projects for all taxa in key biogeographically areas of Europe, and the Mediterranean peninsulas in particular. Citation: Mateo RG, Vanderpoorten A, Muñ oz J, Laenen B, Désamoré A (2013) Modeling Species Distributions from Heterogeneous Data for the Biogeographic Regionalization of the European Bryophyte Flora. PLoS ONE 8(2): e55648.
Plant communities under different land uses along an elevational gradient
Research Square (Research Square), 2024
Species richness and composition in plant communities change with altitude. Currently, species are facing challenges caused by several drivers of global changes, such as climate change and land use change, which may alter their distribution patterns. Novel ecosystems imposed by anthropogenic activities pose new contexts for evaluating classic ecological hypotheses. In this study, I evaluated the distributional patterns of plant species along an elevational gradient in sites under different land uses in a dry mountainous region. Speci cally, I registered species richness and composition of plant communities. Total number of plant species signi cantly varied among altitudes, registering a peak at mid-elevations. Exotic and native species registered a peak at mid-elevations and cultivated species decreased with altitude. Moreover, the number of species grouped per growth form varied with altitude depending on the growth form considered. As expected, plant species distribution followed a humped pattern in the dry mountainous region studied, and land usesimpacted on the composition of plant communities. In this context, private lands offer an excellent opportunity for developing conservation projects. I recommend the maintenance of areas with native vegetation and the designing of home gardens using native plants that may ensure the conservation of biodiversity and the associated ecological processes in anthropic modi ed landscapes.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2011
Belgium has a long tradition of so-called 'biogeographical' classifications that are actually based on environmental (mainly geological, hydrological and climatic) variables. Ironically, no serious attempts have been made to examine their correspondence to distribution patterns of major species assemblages. We here analysed the distribution of vascular plant species in northern Belgium. The distribution data were derived from a grid based mapping scheme during the period 1972-2008 of all vascular plant species in 6495 grid units of 1 km 2 . We first used the K-means clustering method to group grid squares on the basis of similarity in plant species composition. Subsequently, we regrouped the resulting clusters into a smaller number of geographically coherent distribution groups. This yielded classification of the grid units into nine major phytogeographic square groups that are spatially well separated. The distribution of these groups is largely determined by soil type, as evidenced by analyses of Ellenberg indicator values and by the correspondence with soil types distribution. Three of the phytogeographic square groups coincide with geobotanical districts and/or ecoregions that were formerly defined using environmental factors. However, a large number of other 'biogeographic' entities appear ill-supported by our analyses and two of our phytogeographic groups are not recognized within the existing 'biogeographic' classifications. Our results provide a well-founded botanical basis for the delimitation of phytogeographical regions in Flanders that is based on the actual distribution patterns of a large number of plant species, rather than of a pre-defined small selection of indicative species or environmental factors.
Partitioning temperate plant community structure at different scales
Acta Oecologica, 2010
Three stem-mapped field plots, each representing a specific forest developmental stage, were established in a temperate forest in Northeastern China: a young secondary conifer and broadleaved mixed forest (YSF), an old secondary conifer and broadleaved mixed forest (OSF), and an old-growth Korean pine and broad-leaf forest (OGF). The focus of this study is to test an environmental control hypothesis. The spatial variations of community structure (species diversity, forest density and size differentiation) were partitioned into pure environment, pure space, and spatially-structured environmental processes in the three research plots. The principal coordinates of neighbor matrices (PCNMs) method was included in the procedure of variation decomposition with respect to spatial and environmental components. The significant PCNM variables could be directly interpreted in terms of spatial scales. The results indicate that the explanatory power of the soil data was much greater in the secondary forests (YSF and/or OSF) than in the old-growth forest regarding species diversity, forest density and size differentiation. Nearly half (48.35% and 44.86%) of the variation of species richness was explained by soil properties in the young secondary forest and the old secondary forest, respectively. However, only 4.87% of that variation was explained by soil properties in the old-growth forest. Over 14% of the variation of the tree size differentiation was explained by soil properties in two secondary forests, and only 4.23% in the oldgrowth forest. In this study, the spatial variation of species richness and size differentiation was related to environmental variables at multiple scales. Soil variables had a significant effect on species richness and size differentiation at broader scales in the secondary forests, but mainly at medium and fine scales in the old-growth forest. The results challenge the commonly held assumption that tree distributions simply reflect patterns of seed dispersal at local scales.