Understorey changes after an extreme drought event are modulated by overstorey tree species mixtures in thermophilous deciduous forests

Iacopetti, Giovanni; Bussotti, Filippo; Carrari, Elisa; Sofía, María; Selvi, Federico

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2021.118931

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…This mainly stems from the fact that there are fewer flowers and fewer of those flowers contain nectar. Another potential explanation is that extreme periods of drought lead to a reduction in forest herb layer coverage (Iacopetti et al., 2021), which in turn would lead to a reduction in PNP.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Declining potential nectar production of the herb layer in temperate forests under global change

De Schuyter,

De Lombaerde,

Depauw

et al. 2024

Journal of Ecology

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Wild pollinators are crucial for ecosystem functioning and human food production and often rely on floral resources provided by different (semi‐) natural ecosystems for survival. Yet, the role of European forests, and especially the European forest herb layer, as a potential provider of floral resources for pollinators has scarcely been quantified. In this study, we measured the potential nectar production (PNP) of the forest herb layer using resurvey data across 3326 plots in temperate forests in Europe, with an average time interval of 41 years between both surveys in order to assess (i) the importance of the forest herb layer in providing nectar for wild pollinators, (ii) the intra‐annual variation of PNP, (iii) the overall change in PNP between survey periods and (iv) the change in intra‐annual variation of PNP between survey periods. The PNP estimates nectar availability based on the relative cover of different plant species in the forest herb layer. Although PNP overestimates actual nectar production, relative differences amongst plots provide a valid and informative way to analyse differences across time and space. Our results show that the forest herb layer has a large potential for providing nectar for wild pollinator communities, which is greatest in spring, with an average PNP of almost 16 g sugar/m2/year. However, this potential has drastically declined (mean plot‐level decline >24%). Change in light availability, associated with shifts in canopy structure and canopy composition, is the key driver of temporal PNP changes. Synthesis. Our study shows that if management activities are carefully planned to sustain nectar‐producing plant species for wild pollinators, European forest herb layers and European forests as a whole can play key roles in sustaining wild pollinator populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Declining potential nectar production of the herb layer in temperate forests under global change

De Schuyter,

De Lombaerde,

Depauw

et al. 2024

Journal of Ecology

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“…Plants also revealed clear distributional regularities on soil factor gradients (He et al 2016). Understory species, according to Yang et al (2018) and Iacopetti et al (2021), affected soil microbial biomass and evaluated resistance to drought but not its resilience. Due to their often high sensitivity to environmental conditions, understory plants form dynamic communities that respond in many ways to a broad range of habitat changes and disturbances over both short and longtimescale.…”

Section: Correspondence Analysis Species Of Soil Seed Bankmentioning

confidence: 96%

Species composition and richness of viable seed bank after fire events in Mount Ciremai National Park and Kuningan Botanic Gardens, West Java, Indonesia

et al. 2021

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Abstract. Ekasari I, Sadono R, Marsono D, Witono JR. 2021. Species composition and richness of viable seed bank after fire events in Mount Ciremai National Park and Kuningan Botanic Gardens, West Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 3437-3447. Forest fire is an environmental disaster that can decline ecosystem function and restoration efforts must be considered to restore forest ecosystems after fire events. Natural regeneration using existing soil seed banks is a promising approach in restoration due to its advantage in terms of minimizing cost. This study aimed to examine the species composition and richness of germinable seed banks in several post-fire sites in Mount Ciremai National Park (MNCP) and Kuningan Botanic Gardens (KGB), West Java, Indonesia. One hundred fifty-eight soil samples were collected from the study sites representing fire events (i.e., four post-fire sites and one non-fire site), and soil depths (i.e., upper, middle, and lower). The collection of soil samples and identification of seedlings emergence were conducted from September 2019 to February 2020. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and correspondence analysis using SPSS Version 22. In total, 4626 emergence seedlings were recorded, belonging to 158 species and 58 families in which 41 families in the upper soil layer, 35 families in the middle soil layer, and 33 families in the lower soil layer. The results showed that Poaceae, Asteraceae, and Euphorbiaceae as the most dominant families. The upper soil layer of post-fire site 2018 had the highest species richness (R=11.98), while the lower soil layer of post-fire site 2012 had the lowest species richness (R=2.64). Our findings suggest that when carrying out restoration activities in post-fire areas, it is preferable to use native species that do not compete with species persisted in soil seed banks.

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“…Nei cedui, la ridotta o assente copertura del suolo aumenta i rischi di erosione quando arrivano precipitazioni intense dopo situazioni di prolungata siccità, come sempre più spesso accade. Inoltre, cambiamenti rilevanti nei parametri meteo-climatici (aumento della temperatura dell'aria, di luce e ventosità al suolo) porta a significativi effetti sulla biodiversità del suolo e sulla componente erbacea (Iacopetti et al 2021). La conservazione del microclima forestale, caratterizzato da minori escursioni termiche e maggiore umidità rispetto all'esterno, è necessaria per contrastare gli effetti dei cambiamenti macroclimatici, e quindi per mantenere le condizioni ottimali per molte specie nemorali e per la rinnovazione di numerose piante legnose (De Frenne et al 2013).…”

Section: Prospettive Futureunclassified

Climate change in progress: observations on the impacts of drought events on Tuscan forests

Bussotti¹,

Bettini²,

Carrari³

et al. 2023

Forest@

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Climate change in progress: observations on the impacts of drought events on Tuscan forestsThe empirical observation of the impacts of drought and heat waves that occurred between 2017 and 2022 in several forest areas of Tuscany allowed to describe various processes and effects on forest trees and shrubs. The most severe impacts were observed on the evergreen Mediterranean tall woodlands and the aged coppices (on holm oak trees), causing defoliation and even mortality. In most cases, the attempts of resprouting from dormant buds (from the base of the tree trunk or in the crown), following the drought events, were not successful. Deciduous broad-leaved trees (beech, downy oak) suffered a strong summer defoliation, especially on steep slopes with shallow soils and south-facing aspect. These species were generally able to replenish the foliage the following year. In the most unfavorable conditions, however, we observed extensive attacks of opportunistic parasites, such as the fungi of the genus Biscogniauxia, which were favored by drought and were the ultimate cause of mortality. Turkey oak showed mortality in small groups or individual trees. Heat and drought also affected several minor tree species, with defoliation, desiccation and, in the most serious causes, death of the tree. Some mesohygrophilous species that are restricted with relict populations to specific microclimatic sites within the Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean habitats were also impacted, with consequences on biodiversity, regeneration, and production of fruits for wildlife. Increasing drought and heat will trigger regressive dynamic processes that will lead in many sites to the transformation of holm oak forests into bushy forms of scrub, and of scrublands into sparse garrigues or even steppes. A more intense natural thinning of aged coppice stands with especially Turkey oak is also occurring, due to the combined effect of drought and intra-or inter-specific competition. The implementation of a regional monitoring system is recommended, based on the integration of past and existing experiences with new initiatives, to quantify the dynamics, extent and severity of the impacts. A crucial point is the need to adapt forestry, and especially utilization of coppice woods, to the changed ecological conditions to avoid increasing the impact on them.

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Understorey changes after an extreme drought event are modulated by overstorey tree species mixtures in thermophilous deciduous forests

Abstract: Understorey changes after an extreme drought event are modulated by overstorey tree species mixtures in thermophilous deciduous forests

Cited by 8 publications

References 48 publications

Declining potential nectar production of the herb layer in temperate forests under global change

Declining potential nectar production of the herb layer in temperate forests under global change

Species composition and richness of viable seed bank after fire events in Mount Ciremai National Park and Kuningan Botanic Gardens, West Java, Indonesia

Climate change in progress: observations on the impacts of drought events on Tuscan forests

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