Historical Land Use Explains Current Distribution of Calcareous Grassland Species

Abstract

In this study we analyzed if characteristic calcareous grassland species persist in forest habitats after land use change. Furthermore, we investigated whether the current distribution of such species is related to historical land use of the mid19th century. Current distributions of nine calcareous grassland species were recorded in a region of Upper Franconia, Germany. Historical (up to 1850) and current land-use data were analyzed using historical maps and aerial photographs. To study the effects of historical land use in current species distributions, we used Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) and ANOVA, accounting for spatial autocorrelation. Variance partitioning was applied to separate the influence of historical versus current land use. On average 26% of the recorded grassland species occurrences are located in sub-optimal forest habitats. Grassland populations are likely to persist in forest for at least 50 years. Even though current land use explains a higher proportion of the variation in species distribution than historical land use alone, model fit could be significantly improved (P<0.001) considering the historical component. We conclude that consideration of historical land use is essential to understand the current grassland species distributions and may be of general importance for perennial species of temperate grasslands. In addition, historical legacy has far-reaching implications for conservation biology in terms of realistic assessments of species threat status in present landscapes.

Influence of secondary forest succession on plant diversity patterns in a Mediterranean landscape

“…'Nonforest species' are generally light-demanding species, and their richness in younger forest plots is likely to be due to the incomplete closure of the canopy, inertia of the understorey plant assemblage after recent canopy closure (grassland populations have been demonstrated to persist in forest for at least 50 years; Heubes et al, 2011), and to the persistence of altered soil properties due to the previous utilization as agricultural or grazing land (Matlack, 2009;Sciama et al, Figure 4 Results of variation partitioning for true forest species richness (TFS) in terms of fractions of variation explained by three groups of explanatory variables: forest successional age (> 77, > 56, > 38, > 22, < 22 years), environment/landscape variables (aspect, elevation, slope, mean annual temperature, mean maximum summer temperature, patch area, perimeterarea ratio, connectivity) and spatial variables (x, y, x 2 , y 2 , xy 2 and x 3 ). 'Nonforest species' are generally light-demanding species, and their richness in younger forest plots is likely to be due to the incomplete closure of the canopy, inertia of the understorey plant assemblage after recent canopy closure (grassland populations have been demonstrated to persist in forest for at least 50 years; Heubes et al, 2011), and to the persistence of altered soil properties due to the previous utilization as agricultural or grazing land (Matlack, 2009;Sciama et al, Figure 4 Results of variation partitioning for true forest species richness (TFS) in terms of fractions of variation explained by three groups of explanatory variables: forest successional age (> 77, > 56, > 38, > 22, < 22 years), environment/landscape variables (aspect, elevation, slope, mean annual temperature, mean maximum summer temperature, patch area, perimeterarea ratio, connectivity) and spatial variables (x, y, x 2 , y 2 , xy 2 and x 3 ).…”

Charles A. Geyer Agricultural Botanical Survey of 1838-1839: A Comparison of the Composition of Minnesota Prairies Then and Now

“…A. novae-angliae, H. autumnale, and P. virgatum were abundant in wet prairie near Spirit Lake according to Geyer, and were still described as common in wet prairie ~130 years later by Aikman and Thorne (1956). The presence or absence and relative abundance of a given species could be due to differences in climate, soils and or fire regime, grazing, or herbicide use-often undocumented-and other elements of historical land use (Rooney and Leach 2010, Heubes et al 2011, Isbell and Wilsey 2011, Pastro et al 2011.…”

“…More recently Koper et al (2010) documented significant losses in native richness over 30 years that were negatively correlated with cover and richness of non-native species (and see also Dillemuth et al 2009, Hendrickson andLund 2010). Increased nutrient inputs, climate change, mowing, herbicide spraying, loss of pollinators, and stochastic events associated with small population size may all affect the composition of remnants and local abundance of individual species, as well alter our understanding of geographic ranges (Heubes et al 2011).…”

The distribution of the endemic plantPrimula scandinavica, at local and national scales, in changing mountainous environments

“…P. scandinavica is a perennial herb with clonal growth and it is assumed that its distribution might include remnant populations (Wehn and Olsson 2015). The species' distribution could therefore, be explained not only from present, but also from historical land use (Heubes et al 2011). Climate (temperature, precipitation, snow-cover duration) and elevation are considered to be the main causes of regional shifts in vegetation in Norway (Bakkestuen, Erikstad, and Halvorsen 2008).…”