Changes in forest structure drive temperature preferences of boreal understorey plant communities

Christiansen, Ditte Marie; Iversen, Lars; Ehrlén, Johan; Hylander, Kristoffer

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13825

Cited by 28 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Forests in landscapes with limited forest cover harbour on average more warm-adapted species, which are more suited to the warming climate and are more resilient in the face of disturbances that could rapidly remove the forest buffering capacity (Christiansen et al, 2021;Hylander et al, 2022). In addition, our results (Figure 3)…”

Section: Ta B L Ementioning

confidence: 59%

“…Our results however should not be used to undermine the importance of small forest patches in agriculture mosaics (Valdés et al, 2020). Forests in landscapes with limited forest cover harbour on average more warm‐adapted species, which are more suited to the warming climate and are more resilient in the face of disturbances that could rapidly remove the forest buffering capacity (Christiansen et al, 2021; Hylander et al, 2022). In addition, our results (Figure 3) show a linear decrease, without saturation, in CTI with increasing landscape‐scale forest cover; as a result, any amount of forest cover in the landscape can have an effect on CTI.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High landscape‐scale forest cover favours cold‐adapted plant communities in agriculture–forest mosaics

Borderieux

Gégout

Serra‐Diaz

2023

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim The ongoing climate warming is expected to reshuffle understorey plant community composition by increasing the occurrence of warm‐adapted species at the expense of cold‐adapted species. This process has been evidenced before by a warming community temperature index (CTI) over time. However, data indicate that the local tree canopy can partly explain an observed lag between understorey plant CTI and climate warming rates, though landscape‐scale forest cover effects have not yet been investigated. Here, we test the hypothesis that the amount of forest cover in the landscape lowers local CTI. Location Temperate forests in France. Time period 2005–2019. Major taxa studied Forest vascular plants. Methods We compared 2,012 pairs of neighbouring French forest inventory plots with contrasting percentages of forest cover within a 1‐km radius area (landscape forest cover). We computed the difference in the CTI of the understorey communities for each pair and tested the contributions of the landscape‐scale forest cover, local canopy cover, and soil conditions to the differences in CTI. Results Plots located in highly forested areas (> 80% in the 1‐km area) had an average CTI 0.26 °C lower (0.81 °C SD) than plots in sparsely forested areas (< 30% in the 1‐km area). Fifty percent of this difference was explained by landscape‐scale forest cover. Bioindicated soil conditions such as pH and available nutrients, which correlated with cold‐adapted species preferences, explained the remaining 50%. Main conclusions Highly forested landscapes allow cold‐adapted species to survive in given macroclimatic conditions. These landscapes meet cold‐adapted species’ soil requirements and may cool the regional climate. Further microclimatic studies are needed to confirm the cooling capacity of landscape‐scale forest cover.

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Section: Ta B L Ementioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High landscape‐scale forest cover favours cold‐adapted plant communities in agriculture–forest mosaics

Borderieux

Gégout

Serra‐Diaz

2023

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…Reduced community moisture index and lower community shade tolerance following short‐interval fire suggest differences in community composition expected with warmer, drier soils (Hoecker et al ., 2020) and increased sunlight via a 10‐fold reduction in postfire lodgepole pine densities (Turner et al ., 2019; Braziunas et al ., 2023). These shifts are consistent with expectations of community thermophilization, a process increasingly observed following natural (de Frenne et al ., 2013; Stevens et al ., 2015, 2019; Zellweger et al ., 2020; Christiansen et al ., 2022) and manipulated (de Frenne et al ., 2015; Liu et al ., 2018; Govaert et al ., 2021) changes in temperature and moisture conditions that can persist even after canopy closure (Dietz et al ., 2020). Short‐interval fire also triggered increasing abundance of species capable of growing in lower (and potentially warmer and drier) vegetation zones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peeking under the canopy: anomalously short fire‐return intervals alter subalpine forest understory plant communities

2023

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Summary Climate change is driving changes in disturbance regimes world‐wide. In forests adapted to infrequent, high‐severity fires, recent anomalously short fire‐return intervals (FRIs) have resulted in greatly reduced postfire tree regeneration. However, effects on understory plant communities remain unexplored. Understory plant communities were sampled in 31 plot pairs across Greater Yellowstone (Wyoming, USA). Each pair included one plot burned at high severity twice in < 30 yr and one plot burned in the same most recent fire but not burned previously for > 125 yr. Understory communities following short‐interval fires were also compared with those following the previous long‐interval fire. Species capable of growing in drier conditions and in lower vegetation zones became more abundant and regional differences in plant communities declined following short‐interval fire. Dissimilarity between plot pairs increased in mesic settings and decreased with time since fire and postfire winter snowfall. Reduced postfire tree density following short‐interval fire rather than FRI per se affected the occurrence of most plant species. Anomalously short FRIs altered understory plant communities in space and time, with some indications of community thermophilization and regional homogenization. These and other shifts in understory plant communities may continue with ongoing changes in climate and fire across temperate forests.

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“…Habitat conversion is widely regarded as the most important threat to biodiversity worldwide 1 , 2 , and research in European forest ecosystems finds that management-driven changes in the forest canopy can override macro-climatic changes in determining climate-related community shifts 8 , 40 . In contrast, our study provides evidence that climate might currently be the principal driver of plant community turnover at landscape scales in our cool-temperate and boreal study region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate warming has compounded plant responses to habitat conversion in northern Europe

Auffret

Svenning

2022

Nat Commun

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Serious concerns exist about potentially reinforcing negative effects of climate change and land conversion on biodiversity. Here, we investigate the tandem and interacting roles of climate warming and land-use change as predictors of shifts in the regional distributions of 1701 plant species in Sweden over 60 years. We show that species associated with warmer climates have increased, while grassland specialists have declined. Our results also support the hypothesis that climate warming and vegetation densification through grazing abandonment have synergistic effects on species distribution change. Local extinctions were related to high levels of warming but were reduced by grassland retention. In contrast, colonisations occurred more often in areas experiencing high levels of both climate and land-use change. Strong temperature increases were experienced by species across their ranges, indicating time lags in expected warming-related local extinctions. Our results highlight that the conservation of threatened species relies on both reduced greenhouse gas emissions and the retention and restoration of valuable habitat.

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Changes in forest structure drive temperature preferences of boreal understorey plant communities

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 28 publications

References 62 publications

High landscape‐scale forest cover favours cold‐adapted plant communities in agriculture–forest mosaics

High landscape‐scale forest cover favours cold‐adapted plant communities in agriculture–forest mosaics

Peeking under the canopy: anomalously short fire‐return intervals alter subalpine forest understory plant communities

Climate warming has compounded plant responses to habitat conversion in northern Europe

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