Grassland species composition and morpho-functional traits along an altitudinal gradient in a Mediterranean environment: Relationship with soil water availability and evaporative dynamic

Acosta, Belen O.; Sánchez-Jardón, Laura; Pozo, Alejandro del; García-Ibáñez, Epifanio; Montalvo, Javier; Pineda, Francisco Díaz

doi:10.1016/j.actao.2008.03.001

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…How stable are CATs among communities under the same environmental conditions (cf. Acosta et al 2008)? Is an average trait value adequate to define habitat filtering across the spectrum of local communities?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can entropy maximization use functional traits to explain species abundances? A comprehensive evaluation

Merow

Latimer

Silander

2011

Ecology

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Entropy maximization (EM) is a method that can link functional traits and community composition by predicting relative abundances of each species in a community using limited trait information. We developed a complementary suite of tests to examine the strengths and limitations of EM and the community-aggregated traits (CATs; i.e., weighted averages) on which it depends that can be applied to virtually any plant community data set. We show that suites of CATs can be used to differentiate communities and that EM can address the classic problem of characterizing ecological niches by quantifying constraints (CATs) on complex trait relationships in local communities. EM outperformed null models and comparable regression models in communities with different levels of dominance, diversity, and trait similarity. EM predicted well the abundance of the dominant species that drive community-level traits; it typically identified rarer species as such, although it struggled to predict the abundances of the rarest species in some cases. Predictions were sensitive to choice of traits, were substantially improved by using informative priors based on null models, and were robust to variation in trait measurement due to intraspecific variability or measurement error. We demonstrate how similarity in species' traits confounds predictions and provide guidelines for applying EM.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can entropy maximization use functional traits to explain species abundances? A comprehensive evaluation

Merow

Latimer

Silander

2011

Ecology

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“…1). At each site, vegetation was evaluated in two 10 9 10 m plots located on hillside (north-faced and south-faced aspect in Chile and Spain, respectively) and flatland positions, so as to consider possible differences in plant species composition associated with differences in water availability between slope positions (Acosta et al 2008 (Tecco et al 2010) and that most of exotic species (around 90 %) present herbaceous life form (Fuentes et al 2013), in the subsequent analyses only herbaceous species were considered. Chilean species were classified as native or exotic according to Marticorena and Quezada (1985;1987), and the information provided by the Laboratorio de Invasiones Biológicas de la Universidad de Concepción (LIB; http://www.lib.udec.cl/database.html).…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Spain to Chile: environmental filters and success of herbaceous species in Mediterranean-climate regions

et al. 2014

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In central Chile, many exotic species associated with cereal culture and livestock activities were introduced during Spanish colonization. Nowadays, Chilean semi-natural grasslands are a mixture of native species and exotics that mainly originated in the Mediterranean Basin. The establishment and persistence of exotics (i.e. naturalization) can be due to abiotic (climate and soil properties) and biotic (interaction between plants) factors. We assess the importance of these environmental factors as filters that have promoted/ limited the successful naturalization of Spanish species in Chile. Fifteen sites distributed throughout a wide range of Mediterranean climatic conditions, with similar geomorphology and land-use, were selected in both Chile and Spain. At each site we recorded a broad set of soil and climate variables as well as plant species richness during two consecutive years. In Chile, species were classified as natives or exotics whereas in Spain species were classified as colonizers (species that have been naturalized in Chile) or exclusives (only present in Spain). Species richness was higher in Spain (229 species) than in Chile (152), the latter with a high proportion (almost 50 %) of exotics. Different environmental factors affected species richness in each Mediterranean region. In Spain, species classified as colonizers were weakly related to a combination of soil and climate properties, while in Chile the number of exotic species was highly related with climate conditions (especially water availability). Lack of association between native and exotic species richness indicated that biotic filters (i.e. species competition) are less important than abiotic ones in transcontinental naturalization in Chile.

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“…Here, the cause of stress is fundamentally water related (Kramer et al 2000;Giménez-Benavides et al 2007;Acosta et al 2008) and warming and desiccation would cause radical re-ordination of plant communities in these mountains. Since the end of the last glaciation, relict Mediterranean populations of Eurosiberian and Boreal species that have found refuge in these mountains constitute one of the southernmost formations of these species in Eurasia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summer rainfall variability in European Mediterranean mountains from the sixteenth to the twentieth century reconstructed from tree rings

et al. 2013

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Since the end of the last glacial period, European Mediterranean mountains have provided shelter for numerous species of Eurosiberian and Boreal origin. Many of these species, surviving at the southern limit of their range in Europe and surrounded by Mediterranean ones, are relatively intolerant to summer drought and are in grave danger of loss, as a result of increasingly long and frequent droughts in this region. This is the case of the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and the Austrian pine (Pinus nigra ssp. salzmannii) which are found on Central Iberian Peninsula at the edge of their natural range. We used a tree ring network of these two species to reconstruct past variations in summer rainfall. The reconstruction, based upon a tree ring composite chronology of the species, dates back to 1570 (adjusted R 2 = 0.49, P < 0.000001) and captures interannual to decadal scale variability in summer precipitation. We studied the spatial representativeness of the rainfall patterns and described the occurrence rate of extremes of this precipitation. To identify associations between macroclimatic factors and tree radial growth, we employed a principal component analysis to calculate the resultant of the relationship between the growth data of both species, using this resultant as a dependent variable of a multiple regression whose independent variables are monthly mean temperature and precipitation from the average records. Spatial correlation patterns between instrumental precipitation datasets for southern Europe and reconstructed values for the 1950-1992 period indicate that the reconstruction captures the regional signal of drought variability in the study region (the origin of this precipitation is convective: thermal low pressure zones induced in the inland northeastern areas of the Iberian Peninsula). There is a clear increase in the recurrence of extreme dry events as from the beginning of twentieth century and an abrupt change to drier conditions. There appears to be a tendency toward recurrent exceptionally dry summers, which could involve a significant change for the Eurosiberian refugee species.

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Grassland species composition and morpho-functional traits along an altitudinal gradient in a Mediterranean environment: Relationship with soil water availability and evaporative dynamic

Cited by 20 publications

References 70 publications

Can entropy maximization use functional traits to explain species abundances? A comprehensive evaluation

Can entropy maximization use functional traits to explain species abundances? A comprehensive evaluation

From Spain to Chile: environmental filters and success of herbaceous species in Mediterranean-climate regions

Summer rainfall variability in European Mediterranean mountains from the sixteenth to the twentieth century reconstructed from tree rings

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