A new practical tool for deriving a functional signature for herbaceous vegetation

Hunt, Roderick; Hodgson, J.; Thompson, Ken; Bungener, P.; Dunnett, Nigel; Askew, Andrew P.

doi:10.1111/j.1654-109x.2004.tb00607.x

Cited by 137 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…This supports the assumption that the diversity of plant functional groups in receiving communities is a mechanism for resisting invasion (Theoharides and Dukes 2007). the relative abundance of Competitors, Stress-tolerants and Ruderals in a given species pool), which is based on Grime's (1977) classification and is related to gradients of stress and disturbance, can be used to indicate levels of resistance, resilience, eutrophication and dereliction (Hunt et al 2004). For plant invasion, the integrative power of the 'C-S-R functional signature' (i.e.…”

supporting

confidence: 65%

What drives invasibility? A multi‐model inference test and spatial modelling of alien plant species richness patterns in northern Portugal

Vicente¹,

Alves²,

Randin³

et al. 2010

Ecography

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Understanding and predicting biological invasions can focus either on traits that favour species invasiveness or on features of the receiving communities, habitats or landscapes that promote their invasibility. Here, we address invasibility at the regional scale, testing whether some habitats and landscapes are more invasible than others by fitting models that relate alien plant species richness to various environmental predictors. We use a multi-model information-theoretic approach to assess invasibility by modelling spatial and ecological patterns of alien invasion in landscape mosaics, and by testing competing hypotheses of environmental factors that may control invasibility. Because invasibility may be mediated by particular characteristics of invasiveness, we classified alien species according to their C-S-R plant strategies. We illustrate this approach with a set of 86 alien species in northern Portugal. We first focus on predictors influencing species richness and expressing invasibility, and then evaluate whether distinct plant strategies respond to the same or different groups of environmental predictors. We confirmed climate as a primary determinant of alien invasions, and as a primary environmental gradient determining landscape invasibility. The effects of secondary gradients were detected only when the area was sub-sampled according to predictions based on the primary gradient. Then, multiple predictor types influenced patterns of alien species richness, with some types (landscape composition, topography and fire regime) prevailing over others. Alien species richness responded most strongly to extreme land management regimes, suggesting that intermediate disturbance induces biotic resistance by favouring native species richness. Land-use intensification facilitated alien invasion, whereas conservation areas hosted few invaders, highlighting the importance of ecosystem stability in preventing invasions. Plants with different strategies exhibited different responses to environmental gradients, particularly when the variations of the primary gradient were narrowed by sub-sampling. Such differential responses of plant strategies suggest using distinct control and eradication approaches for different areas and alien plant groups.

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supporting

confidence: 65%

What drives invasibility? A multi‐model inference test and spatial modelling of alien plant species richness patterns in northern Portugal

Vicente¹,

Alves²,

Randin³

et al. 2010

Ecography

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“…coordinates in “C‐S‐R space” providing a numerical index for the degree of adaptation to a strategy; cf . Hunt et al., ), moisture preference as indicated by Ellenberg F ‐value (Ellenberg, , adjusted by Hill, Mountford, Roy, & Bunce, ), and the dispersal traits plant life span (annual/perennial), seed buoyancy (% seeds afloat after 1 week in water), seed mass (g) and seed terminal velocity (m/s) (from the LEDA traitbase, Kleyer et al., ). For the in‐stream vegetation we classified species using the vegetative units of vascular plant species of the functional habitat classification by Harvey, Clifford, and Gurnell (), grouping growth forms by their association with (a) fast flow: trailing vegetation, species rooting in the bank but trailing over the water (like Agrostis stolonifera or Nasturtium officinale ); (b) intermediate fast flow: submerged fine‐leaved macrophytes, submerged species with leaves at least 4 times longer than wide ( Potamogeton pectinatus or Ranunculus ssp.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional responses of aquatic and riparian vegetation to hydrogeomorphic restoration of channelized lowland streams and their valleys

Fraaije

Poupin

Verhoeven

et al. 2019

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Streams and riparian zones are highly heterogeneous ecosystems. Their high biodiversity is promoted by variable flow velocities and water depths, strong hydrological gradients and disturbance regimes. However, human interventions like damming and channelization have degraded these ecosystems world‐wide. And, although restoration efforts have increased in the past decades, ecological improvement is lagging. We assessed vegetation development in channelized lowland stream valleys in the Netherlands, combining innovative restoration measures to the stream and stream valleys. This “stream valley restoration” entailed construction of narrower and shallower channels to increase flow velocities during base discharges, meandering of the watercourse to increase flow and depth heterogeneity and excavation of banks to create wide v‐shaped stream valleys. We evaluated the effects on functional aspects of the developing in‐stream and riparian vegetation by comparing restored stream reaches to nearby unrestored reaches. The reduced channel dimensions led to higher flow velocities, which, through interaction with meandering, triggered a higher variability in flow and depth. Combined with enlargement of the floodplain, this promoted flooding in stream valleys and created wider environmental gradients. Plant diversity strongly increased in the floodplain area, the land–water interface and the shallow water habitat at the channel margins, but decreased in the central parts of stream channels. There, higher flow velocities led to more typically lotic (running water) in‐stream plant communities, indicated by a sharp decrease in floating‐leaved species and an increase in trailing species. Riparian vegetation showed a higher beta‐diversity across the wider valley slopes of restored reaches, with more wetland species in areas with water‐tables between 0.0 and −0.6 m, and more upland species as well. Synthesis and applications. This study demonstrates that the combination of strongly reduced channel dimensions, remeandering and widening of riparian zones, is effective in restoring in‐stream and riparian habitat heterogeneity. The restoration efforts lead to distinct immediate increases in total and beta‐diversity of many typical stream and riparian plant species. Overall, this stresses the importance of applying restoration measures to both streams and stream valleys simultaneously, considering them as a single landscape unit.

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“…Coordinates were plotted onto a ternary triangle using PAST software (Hammer, Harper & Ryan 2001). A comparator tool (Hunt et al. 2004) was used to compare vegetation sample differences during analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microclimate and vegetation function as indicators of forest thermodynamic efficiency

Norris

Hobson

Ibisch

2011

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary1. Resilient and functional landscapes are essential for climate change adaptation. Thermodynamic theory has been applied increasingly to ecological studies to understand ecosystem resilience and integrity. Resilient ecosystems have complex structure and greater levels of biomass and functional diversity, which act to enhance the degradation of solar energy. Forests that exhibit these characteristics express thermodynamic efficiency through a greater capacitance effect that promotes cooler surface temperatures under extreme weather conditions. 2. With forest disturbance, complex structures and functional linkages are simplified, reducing the capacity of the system to degrade energy. Such changes can lead to dysfunctional ecosystem states, impaired provision of ecosystem services and a weakened resilience. 3. This study has applied indicators based on thermodynamic theory to a chronosequence of forest ecosystems in the UK, Germany and Ukraine. Surface temperatures were measured to test thermodynamic theories relating to energy degradation and temperature moderation. Grime's CSR model was applied to plant data to compare functional complexity in vegetation between stands. 4. Old-growth woodlands are shown to attenuate surface temperature more effectively than native species plantations. Consistently lower temperatures were observed in European old-growth forests with high proportions of biomass when compared to managed stands of similar species composition, suggesting a greater efficiency of energy degradation in complex forest ecosystems, particularly at higher temperatures. 5. Analysis of plant species data using Grime's CSR model indicated that old-growth forests ordinate towards competitive and stress-tolerant communities in contrast to intensively managed forests, which had a greater proportion of generalist and ruderal species. High CSR functional scores were associated with moderated temperature extremes. 6. Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest an important thermodynamic basis for conservation in the context of climate change. Conservation practice and management policy, which is based on preserving ecosystem complexity and function, can aid in mitigating the effects of extreme temperatures, enhancing vital services such as climate regulation, primary production and water retention. Old-growth forests have a significant climate mitigation role alongside other recognised ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration.

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A new practical tool for deriving a functional signature for herbaceous vegetation

Cited by 137 publications

References 26 publications

What drives invasibility? A multi‐model inference test and spatial modelling of alien plant species richness patterns in northern Portugal

What drives invasibility? A multi‐model inference test and spatial modelling of alien plant species richness patterns in northern Portugal

Functional responses of aquatic and riparian vegetation to hydrogeomorphic restoration of channelized lowland streams and their valleys

Microclimate and vegetation function as indicators of forest thermodynamic efficiency

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