Responses of forest herbs to available understory light measured with hemispherical photographs in silver fir–beech forest in Croatia

Jelaska, Sven D.; Antonić, Oleg; Božić, Mario; Križan, Josip; Kušan, Vladimir

doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.10.013

Cited by 24 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The photographs were analysed using Gap Light Analyzer software (GLA Version 2.0; Frazer et al 1999). Only the photographs with the best contrast were analysed (Jelaska et al 2006); 39 out of 730 photographs were excluded because of their low quality. The percentage of total radiation transmitted by the forest canopy was selected as a variable to describe light availability for the understory plants.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species coexistence at local scale in temperate swamp forest: test of habitat heterogeneity hypothesis

et al. 2011

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It has been suggested that a heterogeneous environment enhances species richness and allows for the coexistence of species. However, there is increasing evidence that environmental heterogeneity can have no effect or even a negative effect on plant species richness and plant coexistence at a local scale. We examined whether plant species richness increases with local heterogeneity in the water table depth, microtopography, pH and light availability in a swamp forest community at three local spatial scales (grain: 0.6, 1.2 and 11.4 m). We also used the variance partitioning approach to assess the relative contributions of niche-based and other spatial processes to species occurrence. We found that heterogeneity in microtopography and light availability positively correlated with species richness, in accordance with the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis. However, we recorded different heterogeneity-diversity relationships for particular functional species groups. An increase in the richness of bryophytes and woody plant species was generally related to habitat heterogeneity at all measured spatial scales, whereas a low impact on herbaceous species richness was recorded only at the 11.4 m scale. The distribution of herbaceous plants was primarily explained by other spatial processes, such as dispersal, in contrast to the occurrence of bryophytes, which was better explained by environmental factors. Our results suggest that both niche-based and other spatial processes are important determinants of the plant composition and species turnover at local spatial scales in swamp forests.

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Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant species coexistence at local scale in temperate swamp forest: test of habitat heterogeneity hypothesis

et al. 2011

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“…In the understory vegetation of forests light is one of the most relevant environmental variables by influencing species abundance (Elemans 2004;Whigham 2004;Bartemucci et al 2006), composition (Jelaska et al 2006) and diversity . Through the stand structure and tree species composition, the quantity, quality and pattern of light are strongly influenced by human management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of light conditions on herbs, bryophytes and seedlings of temperate mixed forests in Őrség, Western Hungary

et al. 2009

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The effect of light on different understory plant groups (herbs, ground floor bryophytes, trunkdwelling bryophytes and seedlings) was studied in a deciduous-coniferous mixed woodland in Western Hungary. The correlation of cover and species richness in each group and the cover of individual species to relative diffuse light were analyzed at different spatial scales. The study was carried out in 34 forest stands with different tree species composition. The importance of light in determining species composition was investigated by redundancy analysis. Species within each plant group were classified based on their light response. Light was positively correlated with species richness of herbs, cover of ground floor and trunkdwelling bryophytes, and species richness and cover of seedlings. In redundancy analysis, the variance explained by light was 13.0% for herbs, 15.0% for bryophytes and 8.6% for seedlings. Within the group of herbs, species preferring open conditions and light-flexible (gap) species were separated on the basis of the spatial scale of the analysis, while shade-tolerant species were not correlated positively with light. Among bryophytes mainly terricolous, opportunistic and mineral soil-inhabiting species showed significant positive correlations with light, while epiphytic and epixylic species did not respond to light. Seedlings of Quercus petraea and Pinus sylvestris were positively related to light, while most other seedling species were shade-tolerant. In case of vascular plants, the species' correlations with light were in agreement with their light indicator values; however, they were independent in the case of bryophytes. This study proved that the extent and spatial pattern of light influenced strongly the understory plant groups. Species within each group respond to light conditions differently, concerning the strength, direction and spatial scale of the relationships.

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“…Images were recorded in 2048 × 1536 pixels, the highest resolution setting possible on the camera. Maximum resolution was used because image analysis is performed based on pixel-by-pixel methods, and image resolution is a major factor reflecting the quality of hemispherical photographs (Jelaska et al 2006;Brusa and Bunker 2014). We took the hemispherical photographs on uniformly overcast days between July and August from 2005 to 2011.…”

Section: Gap Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gap closure process by lateral extension growth of canopy trees and its effect on woody species regeneration in a temperate secondary forest, Northeast China

Lu¹,

Zhu²,

Sun³

et al. 2015

Silva Fenn.

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G. (2015). Gap closure process by lateral extension growth of canopy trees and its effect on woody species regeneration in a temperate secondary forest, Northeast China. Silva Fennica vol. 49 no. 5 article id 1310. 17 p. Highlights• Gap closure process by lateral extension growth can be described by quadratic functions.• Large gaps (514-621 m 2 ) had higher closure rates but lower closure percentages compared with middle (174-321 m 2 ) and small gaps (68-125 m 2 ).• Gaps promoted woody species regeneration in early stage.• Large and middle gaps would provide opportunities for filling regeneration, but regeneration in small gaps may eventually fail. AbstractGap formation and its effects on regeneration have been reported as being important in forest development, but seldom studies concentrated on the gap closure process by lateral extension growth of canopy trees surrounding gaps. We monitored the closure process of 12 artificial gaps for 7 years with three size classes: small (from 68 m 2 to 125 m 2 ), middle (from 174 m 2 to 321 m 2 ), and large (from 514 m 2 to 621 m 2 ); and investigated the regeneration twice in a temperate secondary forest, Northeast China. The closure process can be described through quadratic functions, which showed the closure rates slowed down with gap ages. Large gaps had a higher closure rate (39 m 2 a -1 ) than middle gaps (25 m 2 a -1 ) and small gaps (11 m 2 a -1 ). According to the quadratic equations, the lateral growth could last 11, 13 and 16 years for small, middle and large gaps with a remaining size of 12, 69 and 223 m 2 , respectively. As expected, regeneration exhibited the highest seedling density and volume in large gaps. There was no significant difference in regeneration density between middle gaps, small gaps and forest understory in the final investigation; but the volume of regenerated woody species increased significantly from small gaps to large gaps compared with forest understory. These results may provide references on the choice of appropriate gap sizes to promote the regeneration in temperate secondary forests.

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Responses of forest herbs to available understory light measured with hemispherical photographs in silver fir–beech forest in Croatia

Cited by 24 publications

References 19 publications

Plant species coexistence at local scale in temperate swamp forest: test of habitat heterogeneity hypothesis

Plant species coexistence at local scale in temperate swamp forest: test of habitat heterogeneity hypothesis

The effect of light conditions on herbs, bryophytes and seedlings of temperate mixed forests in Őrség, Western Hungary

Gap closure process by lateral extension growth of canopy trees and its effect on woody species regeneration in a temperate secondary forest, Northeast China

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