Extinction debt in naturally contracting mountain meadows in the Pacific Northwest, USA: varying responses of plants and feeding guilds of nocturnal moths

Highland, Steven A.; Jones, Julia A.

doi:10.1007/s10531-014-0737-z

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…; Johansson et al. ; Highland & Jones ). In this study, we found that clear‐cuts on historical meadows that had been afforested for at least 80 yrs (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Land‐use history exerts long‐term effects on the clear‐cut flora in boreonemoral Sweden

Jonason

Bergman

Westerberg

et al. 2016

Applied Vegetation Science

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Questions: Can signs of 19th century grassland management, which can be observed in the flora immediately (2-4 yrs) after clear-cutting in boreonemoral Sweden, still remain 4 yrs later? Do the effects from the time since clear-cutting differ between forest and grassland plant species?Location: Province of € Osterg€ otland, southern Sweden.Methods: Twelve contemporary clear-cut areas that were once meadows and 12 that were once forests were selected using land-use maps from the 1870s. Grasses and herbaceous plants were surveyed twice, once in 2009 and once in 2013 (2-4 and 6-8 yrs after clear-cutting, respectively). Plant presence was recorded within 100 circular sample plots (radius 1 m) placed evenly throughout each respective clear-cut area along transects spaced 25-m apart. The number of sample plots in which a species was present was taken as a measure of that species' frequency. Random effects meta-analysis, odds ratios and ANCOVA were used to analyse species responses to clear-cutting over time.Results: A total of 170 plant species were found in the study, of which 33 were classified as grassland indicator species and 31 as plants primarily confined to forests. Clear-cut areas with a history as meadowland had, on average, up to 64% higher total species richness and 110% more grassland indicator species than did clear-cut areas with a history as forest. The time since clear-cutting had no effect on total species richness. However, the odds of finding a grassland indicator species decreased with the time since clear-cutting, whereas the odds of finding a forest species increased. Conclusions:We concluded that land-use history plays an important role in explaining the flora found in Swedish clear-cuts, and that its effects on species richness remain for a minimum of 8 yrs after harvest (conservative estimate). This phenomenon highlights the importance of acknowledging land-use legacies in ecological research and conservation. Future studies should investigate various options for the promotion of grassland plants in clear-cuts with a history of grassland management while also acknowledging the potential conflicts between conservation and production. The results may pertain to other countries with similar land-use histories.

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“…; Johansson et al. ; Highland & Jones ). In this study, we found that clear‐cuts on historical meadows that had been afforested for at least 80 yrs (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many countries have preserved collections of historical land‐use maps (Foster ; Dupouey et al. ; Highland & Jones ; Piqueray et al. ), which could be used for this purpose.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land‐use history exerts long‐term effects on the clear‐cut flora in boreonemoral Sweden

Jonason

Bergman

Westerberg

et al. 2016

Applied Vegetation Science

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“…Mountain meadows are locations of high biodiversity, with wet meadows utilized by unique flora and fauna (Patton and Judd 1970, Allen-Diaz 1991, Wang 2012, Highland and Jones 2014. Mountain meadows are locations of high biodiversity, with wet meadows utilized by unique flora and fauna (Patton and Judd 1970, Allen-Diaz 1991, Wang 2012, Highland and Jones 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mountain meadows provide essential ecosystem services, including maintaining biodiversity and regulating release of snow meltwater into streams. Mountain meadows are locations of high biodiversity, with wet meadows utilized by unique flora and fauna (Patton and Judd 1970, Allen-Diaz 1991, Wang 2012, Highland and Jones 2014. Some species even rely specifically on the forestmeadow edge, such as elk and deer (Patton and Judd 1970) or the Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa;van Riper and van Wagtendonk 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate and landscape drive the pace and pattern of conifer encroachment into subalpine meadows

Lubetkin

Westerling

Kueppers

2017

Ecological Applications

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Mountain meadows have high biodiversity and help regulate stream water release following the snowmelt pulse. However, many meadows are experiencing woody plant encroachment, threatening these ecosystem services. While there have been field surveys of individual meadows and remote sensing-based landscape-scale studies of encroachment, what is missing is a broad-scale, ground-based study to understand common regional drivers, especially at high elevations, where land management has often played a less direct role. With this study, we ask: What are the climate and landscape conditions conducive to woody plant encroachment at the landscape scale, and how has historical climate variation affected tree recruitment in subalpine meadows over time? We measured density of encroaching trees across 340 subalpine meadows in the central Sierra Nevada, California, USA, and used generalized additive models (GAMs) to determine the relationship between landscape-scale patterns of encroachment and meadow environmental properties. We determined ages of trees in 30 survey meadows, used observed climate and GAMs to model the relationship between timing of recruitment and climate since the early 1900s, and extrapolated recruitment patterns into the future using downscaled climate scenarios. Encroachment was high among meadows with lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon var. murrayana (Balf.) Engelm.) in the immediate vicinity, at lower elevations, with physical conditions favoring strong soil drying, and with maximum temperatures above or below average. Climatic conditions during the year of germination were unimportant, with tree recruitment instead depending on a 3-yr seed production period prior to germination and a 6-yr seedling establishment period following germination. Recruitment was high when the seed production period had high snowpack, and when the seedling establishment period had warm summer maximum temperatures, high summer precipitation, and high snowpack. Applying our temporal model to downscaled output from four global climate models indicated that the average meadow will shift to forest by the end of the 21st century. Sierra Nevada meadow encroachment by conifers is ubiquitous and associated with climate conditions increasingly favorable for tree recruitment, which will lead to substantial changes in subalpine meadows and the ecosystem services they provide.

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“…Moths are an important food resource for a variety of animals including lizards, small mammals ( Kronfeld-Schor and Dayan 1999 ), birds ( Schwenk et al 2010 ; Visser et al 2006 ), bats ( Dodd 2006 ; Dodd and Lacki 2007 ; Dodd et al 2008 ), and other insects ( Howell and Davis 1972 ). Because of their pivotal role in ecosystem function, moths are sometimes used for assessing the effects of environmental change ( Gimesi et al 2012 ), habitat restoration ( Highland and Jones 2014 ), or environmental impact assessment ( Chaundy-Smart et al 2012 ; Kitching et al 2000 ; Slade et al 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macrolepidoptera biodiversity in Wooster, Ohio from 2001 through 2009

Downer¹,

Ebert²

2014

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A Skinner mercury vapor light trap was operated from 2001 through 2009 in a residential backyard to document biodiversity within the moth families Thyatiridae, Drepanidae, Geometridae, Mimallonidae, Apatelodidae, Lasiocampidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Erebidae (including Lymantriinae and Arctiinae), Euteliidae, Nolidae, and Noctuidae. When making comparisons to older literature, we recalculated our results to conform to the older classification of the Noctuoidea. Moths were released after identification. There were 501 species documented in 77581 captures from 1290 sampling dates. There was a perceived risk that released moths would fly back into the trap the following evening. This should result in an abnormal number of rare moths that are caught multiple times. The number of species caught twice versus the number caught once was no different than a similar ratio for surveys that used more traditional sampling methods. Therefore this concern does not seem to be valid for these data. These data are provided in a supplementary file available for download.There were three previous surveys conducted in nearby natural areas. They documented fewer species than were documented here. To understand this better, we examined several specialized groups of moths that tend to use host plants not typically found in an urban residential yard. More species in Schinia Hübner, Catocala Schrank, Acronicta Ochsenheimer, and Herminiinae Leech were found in this survey than the other local surveys. Only in the Papaipema Smith did we recover fewer species, though it was still above 70% of what was expected. This diversity could be a result of sampling effort, but it shows that this urban location has a very diverse moth fauna. We suggest that this diversity is partly due to the planting of native plant species in the area about the light trap. Therefore we would concur with others that urban landscapes can be planned to increase biodiversity relevant to more natural ecosystems.In this study we looked at the ratio of the number of species of Geometridae divided by the number of species of Noctuidae as one approach to evaluating the level of disturbance in the moth assemblage. Although the yearly average was nearly constant, the seasonal ratio ranged from 0.09 to 0.91 depending on the sampling date. We also calculated alpha diversity and found that seasonal change in alpha diversity greatly exceeded yearly differences. This strong seasonal component means that a comparison between two studies requires a correction for seasonality and similar sampling intervals. In this study, a shift of two weeks would be sufficient to result in a significant difference in alpha diversity. This is the equivalent of increasing temperature by 1.53 °C. Seasonal shifts limit the usefulness of this methodology for environmental assessment because the within season change exceeds the between season change. This problem is compounded when sampling designs interact with this seasonality.In describing our data, we made use of a growing degree day (GDD) model. Th...

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Extinction debt in naturally contracting mountain meadows in the Pacific Northwest, USA: varying responses of plants and feeding guilds of nocturnal moths

Cited by 14 publications

References 38 publications

Land‐use history exerts long‐term effects on the clear‐cut flora in boreonemoral Sweden

Land‐use history exerts long‐term effects on the clear‐cut flora in boreonemoral Sweden

Climate and landscape drive the pace and pattern of conifer encroachment into subalpine meadows

Macrolepidoptera biodiversity in Wooster, Ohio from 2001 through 2009

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