Conservation relevance of terrestrial herbaceous vegetation studies

Willie, Jacob

doi:10.14719/pst.2014.1.4.66

Cited by 1 publication

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References 24 publications

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“…Herbaceous plants represent a significant proportion of the forest biodiversity, but they remain largely understudied despite their ecological relevance: they contribute to ecological processes, serve as ecological indicators of habitat quality and provide food and shelter for numerous wildlife species (reviewed in Ruben, Bolger, Peart, & Ayres, ; Wyatt & Silman, ; Jones, Cicuzza, van Straaten, Veldkamp, & Kessler, ; Willie, Tagg, Petre, Pereboom, & Lens, ). Studies on herbaceous plant abundance, distribution, diversity and composition in forest stands at different successional stages can inform biodiversity conservation policy and forest management practices (Allen, Platt, & Coker, ; Duffy & Meier, ; Fraser, Jentsch, & Sternberg, ; Willie, ; Wyatt & Silman, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and community composition of herbaceous plants in different habitat types in south‐east Cameroon

2017

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The composition of herbaceous vegetation was evaluated with the aim of characterizing forests at various ages of stand development. Herb stems were sampled in 250 4-m² square plots distributed within six habitat types. A total of 36 herb species belonging to 15 families were recorded. Species richness did not significantly differ between habitat types. Most herb species occurred in all habitat types and were therefore generalists. However, a few indicator herb species were detected, and the results roughly suggested that herb species of the families Poaceae and Araceae were indicative of late successional forests; Zingiberaceae are indicative of early successional forests; and Commelinaceae, Costaceae, Cyperaceae and Marantaceae are indicators of flooded habitats. Species diversity and stem density of herbaceous plants did not change with forest succession as a decrease in abundance and frequency of occurrence of pioneer species in late successional forests was counterbalanced by the presence of generalist and late successional species. However, increasing proportions of dwarf stems in late successional forests translated to changes in the vertical structure of herbaceous plant communities. Herbivory pressure by gorillas did not have a notable effect on herbaceous plant community development. This study contributes to the definition of herbaceous ecological indicators of forest succession in different settings.R esum e: La composition de la v eg etation herbeuse a et e evalu ee afin de caract eriser les diff erents stades de d eveloppement des forêts. Nous avons collect e les pousses d'herbes dans 250 parcelles de 4 m² r eparties dans six types d'habitats. Nous avons enregistr e un total de 36 esp eces d'herbes appartenant a 15 familles. La richesse en esp eces ne diff erait pas significativement selon les types d'habitats. La plupart des esp eces d'herbes se trouvaient dans tous les types d'habitats et etaient donc g en eralistes, mais nous avons d etect e quelques esp eces indicatrices, et nos r esultats sugg erent, en gros, que les herbes des familles des Poaceae et des Araceae indiquent des forêts en fin de cycle de succession, que les Zingiberaceae indiquent des forêts en d ebut de cycle, et que les Commelinaceae, Costaceae, Cyperaceae et Marantaceae sont le signe d'habitats inond es. La diversit e d'esp eces et la densit e de pousses de plantes herbac ees ne changeaient pas avec la succession des stades forestiers parce que la diminution de l'abondance et de la fr equence d'occurrence des esp eces pionni eres dans les forêts plus anciennes etait compens ee par la pr esence d'esp eces g en eralistes et/ou caract eristiques de stades post erieurs. Cependant, de plus fortes proportions de

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