Patterns and drivers of phytodiversity in steppe grasslands of Central Podolia (Ukraine)

Куземко, Анна; Steinbauer, Manuel J.; Becker, Thomas; Didukh, Yakiv; Dolnik, Christian; Jeschke, Michael; Naqinezhad, Alireza; Uğurlu, Emin; Vassilev, Kiril; Dengler, Jürgen

doi:10.1007/s10531-016-1060-7

Cited by 44 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…For example, in Bulgaria, winter temperature has been found to be the factor that best distinguishes the species‐rich sub‐Mediterranean from the more species‐poor continental dry grasslands (Palpurina et al ., ). Temperature‐related factors also seem to be better drivers of fine‐scale species richness than precipitation in dry grasslands in other regions of south‐eastern Europe (Romania, Turtureanu et al ., ; Ukraine, Kuzemko et al ., ) but most probably because the studied ranges of precipitation were narrower than 100 mm in these regions. In our dataset from S Mongolia the precipitation gradient is also narrow (140 mm).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…This enabled us to analyse the effects of precipitation and soil pH on species richness in a rigorous manner. Temperate dry grasslands are a suitable system for studying species richness patterns because they show distinct variation in fine‐scale plant species richness and they hold multiple world records for species richness for plots below 100 m 2 (Wilson et al ., ; Dengler et al ., ; Chytrý et al ., ; Kuzemko et al ., ). We addressed the following questions: (1) what is the relationship between fine‐scale vascular plant species richness and soil pH in dry grasslands across regions of contrasting precipitation and (2) what are the unique and shared effects of soil pH and precipitation as drivers of fine‐scale vascular plant species richness across regions?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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The relationship between plant species richness and soil pH vanishes with increasing aridity across Eurasian dry grasslands

Palpurina

Wagner

Wehrden

et al. 2016

Global Ecol. Biogeogr.

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Aim Soil pH is considered an important driver of fine‐scale plant species richness in terrestrial ecosystems. However, it is unclear to what extent this relationship is influenced by precipitation, which often directly affects both soil pH and species richness. We asked: (1) what is the relationship between fine‐scale vascular plant species richness and soil pH in regions with different levels of precipitation and (2) what are the relative effects of soil pH and precipitation on species richness? Location Dry grasslands in eight regions of northern Eurasia. Methods Species richness and soil pH were measured in 1055 10 m × 10 m plots and precipitation values were derived from global datasets. Relationships between variables were explored using general linear models, mixed‐effect models and partial regressions. Variation partitioning was used to assess the relative effect of each predictor on species richness. Results In wetter regions, soil pH range was broader, mean species richness was higher and the richness–pH relationship was unimodal. In drier regions, mean soil pH was higher and its range narrower, species richness was on average lower and less variable, and the richness–pH relationship was negative or absent. The richness–pH relationship persisted after controlling for the effect of precipitation, but precipitation, uniquely or together with soil pH, explained more variation in species richness in most regions than did pH alone. Main conclusions The relationship between plant species richness and soil pH in dry grasslands changes from unimodal, through negative, to none with decreasing regional precipitation in Eurasia. However, it seems that the species richness–soil pH relationship in dry grasslands over broad areas is substantially influenced and confounded by precipitation either indirectly, by shortening and shifting the pH gradient, or directly, by decreasing the negative effects of drought stress on richness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The relationship between plant species richness and soil pH vanishes with increasing aridity across Eurasian dry grasslands

Palpurina

Wagner

Wehrden

et al. 2016

Global Ecol. Biogeogr.

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“…Since they resemble ecologically and floristically the meadow steppes of the forest steppe zone in Eastern Europe and Middle Asia one might wonder why equally high or even higher small-scale richness values are not found in the natural meadow steppes. This Special Issue contains two contributions that applied standardised EDGG multi-scale phytodiversity sampling (Turtureanu et al 2014) for the first time in natural steppe vegetation: Kuzemko et al (2016) in Central Podolia, Ukraine, a part of the forest-steppe zone of the European steppe region, and Polyakova et al (2016) for Khakassia, Russia, at the transition from the Middle Asian to the Mongolian region. Both author teams found high vascular plant species richness across spatial scales, with maxima, however, that were below the maxima in semi-natural grasslands of Central Europe.…”

Section: Patterns and Drivers Of Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Across the Siberian and Central Asian steppes, the Virgin Lands Campaign of the Soviet Union led to Fig. 1 Simplified map of the Palaearctic steppe biome (with main steppe ecoregions after Wesche et al 2016) with localisation of the studies included in this Special Issue: (1) Kuzemko et al (2016); (2) Polyakova et al (2016); (3) Sutcliffe et al (2016); (4) Dembicz et al (2016); (5) Kajtoch et al (2016); (6) Weking et al (2016); (7) Mathar et al (2016); (8) Lameris et al (2016); (9) Wang and Wesche (2016); (10) Addison and Greiner (2016); (11) Niu et al (2016); (12) Novenko et al (2016); (13) Deák et al (2016); (14) Ambarlı et al (2016); (15) Kamp et al (2016); (16) Brinkert et al (2016); (17) Kämpf et al (2016). Reviews summarising data across countries are indicated by large asterisks (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Step(pe) up! Raising the profile of the Palaearctic natural grasslands

Török¹,

Ambarlı

Kamp

et al. 2016

Biodivers Conserv

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Palaearctic steppes are primary grasslands dominating the landscape of the Eurasian Grassland Belt from Central and Eastern Europe to Northern China across the temperate zone of Eurasia. We also include structurally and floristically similar habitats in North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran. The biota of the steppes are diverse, including many endemic species. As a result of the high rate of anthropogenic conversion and widespread degradation, the Palaearctic steppes have become one of the most endangered terrestrial biomes of the world. These facts underline the importance of sustaining landscape-scale biodiversity in steppes and stress the necessity of their conservation and restoration. Literature about the ecology, biodiversity, and conservation of Palaearctic steppes is not easily accessible for an international audience. Therefore, summarising the current state of knowledge as well as knowledge gaps is very timely. This Special Issue on ''Palaearctic steppes: ecology, biodiversity and conservation'', comprises 17 research papers from many different regions throughout the biome, as well as a broad review synthesising current knowledge.

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“…Currently, five such Special Issues/Features are in production, some close to completion: The EDGG Field Workshops are not only nice events of intensive field work in an international group of enthusiastic grassland researchers, their main purpose is analysing grassland diversity patterns across the Palaearctic biome via the collection of highly standardised datasets. These workshops have generated a number of papers in international journals, highlighting the diverse drivers of grassland diversity in different regions and at different spatial scales (Turtureanu et al 2014, Kuzemko et al 2016, Polyakova et al 2016. Recently, we analysed this megadata to produce the first overview of minimum, maximum and mean species richness in Palaearctic grasslands across seven spatial grain sizes , thus expanding on the scope of the highly cited worldrecord paper by Wilson et al (2012).…”

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confidence: 99%