Context-dependent assembly rules and the role of dominating grasses in semi-natural abandoned sub-Mediterranean grasslands

Wellstein, Camilla; Campetella, Giandiego; Spada, Francesco; Chelli, Stefano; Mucina, Ladislav; Canullo, Roberto; Bartha, Sándor

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2013.12.016

Cited by 42 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…However, some regenerative traits are also known to respond to stress, e.g. large seeds (see above) or shorter flowering period helps to avoid drought (Wellstein et al ), the latter also confirmed by our results. The lack of further convergence is probably due to the fact that nutrient shortage had a minor impact compared to the already stressed environment and resulting trait convergences.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Trait‐based approach confirms the importance of propagule limitation and assembly rules in old‐field restoration

Halassy

Botta‐Dukát

Csecserits

et al. 2019

Restoration Ecology

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Community assembly theory is suggested as a guiding principle for ecological restoration to help understand the mechanisms that structure biological communities and identify where restoration interventions are needed. We studied three hypotheses related to propagule limitation, stress-dominance, and limiting similarity concepts in community assembly in a restoration field experiment with a trait-based null model approach. The experiment aimed to assist the recovery of sand grassland on former arable land in the Kiskunság, Pannonian biogeographic region, Europe. Treatments included initial seeding of five grassland species, carbon amendment, low-intensity mowing, and combinations in 1 m by 1 m plots in three old fields from 2003 to 2008. The distribution of 10 individual plant traits was compared to the null model and the effect of time and treatments were tested with linear mixed effect models. Initial seeding had the most visible impact on species and trait composition confirming propagule limitation in grassland recovery. Reducing nutrient availability through carbon amendment strengthened trait convergence for length of flowering as expected based on the stress-dominance hypothesis. Mowing changed trait divergence to convergence for plant height with a strengthening impact with time, supporting our hypothesis of increasing dominance of limiting similarity with time. Our results support the idea that community assembly is simultaneously influenced by propagule limitation and multiple trait-based processes that act through different traits. The limited impact of manipulating environmental filtering and limiting similarity compared to seeding, however, supports the view that only targeting the dispersal and environmental filters in parallel would improve restoration outcome.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Trait‐based approach confirms the importance of propagule limitation and assembly rules in old‐field restoration

Halassy

Botta‐Dukát

Csecserits

et al. 2019

Restoration Ecology

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“…Previous case studies (e.g. Swenson & Enquist 2009;Carboni et al 2014;Wellstein et al 2014) analysing traits separately found both trait convergence and trait divergence confirming this hypothesis. The traits that play an important role in the adaptation of the species to the given environmental conditions (Begon, Harper & Towsend 1996) or to the given level of non-regulating environmental variables (Krebs 2001) react intensely to environmental filtering, while traits related to resource acquisition are subject to limiting similarity (Weiher & Keddy 1995).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Changes in assembly rules along a stress gradient from open dry grasslands to wetlands

et al. 2016

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Running headline: Assembly rules along a long stress gradient Summary 1. A central issue of community ecology is finding rules that explain the composition and abundance of co-existing species. Nowadays two main processes, environmental filtering and limiting similarity are thought to play the main roles in structuring communities. Their relative importance under different environmental conditions, however, is still not properly clarified. 2. We studied the strength and the effect of environmental filtering (causing convergence) and limiting similarity (causing divergence) in 137 sample plots along an extremely long environmental gradient ranging from open sand grasslands to highly productive marshes, using a trait based approach. The main environmental gradient (i.e. productivity) was characterised by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, an indicator of aboveground live biomass. Cover of the plant species was estimated visually. Values of 11 plant traits were collected from field measurements and databases. Mean and dispersion of the trait values of the plots were quantified by community-weighted means and Rao's quadratic entropy. Trait convergence and divergence were tested by randomization tests, followed by the study of changes in effect size along the productivity gradient by fitting generalized additive mixed models (GAMM). 3. For vegetative traits we found mainly convergence, indicating the filtering effect of environmental constraints, while traits related to regeneration showed divergence. 4. The strength of convergence in vegetative traits generally decreased as productivity grew, indicating that while under harsh conditions environmental constraints strongly limit the possible trait values; under more benign conditions various water and nutrient-use strategies are adaptable. At high productivity, the strength of divergence in regenerative traits decreased. Since the larger diversity of vegetative traits found here reduces competition, the importance of diverse reproductive strategy is probably lower. 5. Synthesis: Our results partly support the stress-dominance hypothesis, but reveal that assembly rules are more complex. The relative importance of environmental filtering and limiting similarity depends on the trait and on the environmental conditions of the habitat. Traits related to resource use are generally limited by environmental filtering, and this restriction is weakening as conditions become more favourable, while traits related to regeneration are constrained by limiting similarity and are more diverse under harsh conditions.

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“…We suggest that plant–plant interactions, such as competition with the dense grass carpet in the mesic system (Wellstein et al. ), might be responsible for the significant ANPP variation of forbs, meaning that the growth of some but not all forb species was affected by competition. However, on the south‐facing slope grass ANPP variability increased, most likely triggered by soil heterogeneity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

The response of sub‐Mediterranean grasslands to rainfall variation is influenced by early season precipitation

Chelli

Canullo

Campetella

et al. 2016

Applied Vegetation Science

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31Question: Climate change will likely modify patterns of precipitation, with an expected increase of 32 intra-annual variability and increased frequency and magnitude of extreme events. The 33Mediterranean area is expected to be very sensitive to such events as water availability is already 34 limited. However, the effect of precipitation variability on ecosystem services, such as plant 35 productivity, is widely unknown. 36What is the short-term effect of an experimental precipitation gradient on the above ground net

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Context-dependent assembly rules and the role of dominating grasses in semi-natural abandoned sub-Mediterranean grasslands

Cited by 42 publications

References 52 publications

Trait‐based approach confirms the importance of propagule limitation and assembly rules in old‐field restoration

Trait‐based approach confirms the importance of propagule limitation and assembly rules in old‐field restoration

Changes in assembly rules along a stress gradient from open dry grasslands to wetlands

The response of sub‐Mediterranean grasslands to rainfall variation is influenced by early season precipitation

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