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691 results for “plant traits”

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dryad36/100

Habitat preferences and functional traits drive longevity in Himalayan high-mountain plants

Plant lifespan has important evolutionary, physiological, and ecological implications related to population persistence, community stability, and resilience to ongoing environmental change impacts. Although biologists have long been puzzled over the extraordinary variation in plant lifespan and its causes, our understanding of interspecific variability in plant lifespan and the key internal and external factors influencing longevity remains limited. Here, we demonstrate the concurrent impacts of environmental, morphological, physiological, and anatomical constraints on interspecific variation in longevity among >300 vascular dicot plant species naturally occurring at an elevation gradient (2800-6150 m) in the western Himalayas. First, we show that plant longevity (ranging from 1 to 100 years) is largely related to species' habitat preferences. Ecologically stressful habitats such as alpine and subnival host long-lived species, while productive ruderal and wetland habitats contain a higher proportion of shorter-lived species. Second, longevity is influenced by growth form with monocarpic forbs having the shortest lifespan and woody shrubs having the highest. Small-statured cushion plants with compact canopies and deep roots, most found on cold and infertile alpine and subnival soils, had a higher chance of achieving longevity. Third, plant traits reflecting plant adaptations to stress and disturbance affect interspecific differences in plant longevity. We show that longevity and growth are negatively correlated. Slow-growing species are those that have a higher chance of reaching a high age. Finally, higher longevity was associated with high leaf carbon and phosphorus, low root phosphorus and nitrogen, and with large bark-xylem ratio. Our findings suggest that plant longevity in high elevation is intricately determined by a combination of habitat preferences and growth form, as well as the plant growth rate and physiological processes.

opencc-zeroMay 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Effects of plant traits and ecosystem properties on wave attenuation and soil carbon content

Understanding the relationships among the environment, species traits and ecosystem properties is important for developing management measures that optimize the delivery of ecosystem services (ESs). Here, we identify the most important relationships responsible for the delivery of two key ESs provided by tidal marshes: (1) nature-based shoreline protection through wave attenuation and (2) mitigation of climate change through soil carbon storage. In two tidal zones below and above the mean high water (MHW, Elbe Estuary, Germany) level, we measured environmental parameters, such as soil salinity and inundation, as well as plant traits representing adaptations to hydrodynamic stress and strongly influencing decomposition rates. Multiple linear regression results showed that wave attenuation rates were positively related to aboveground community biomass and stem bending resistance, and soil organic carbon was positively related to stem-specific density (below the MHW level). In the tidal zone above the MHW level, soil carbon density was governed by inundation duration and decomposition rates. Our study highlights that (1) ES delivery is not equally spread across tidal marshes and (2) ecosystem management should stimulate the development and persistence of habitat diversity (here, low and high marsh zones) to maximize ES delivery potential. Securing the delivery of the two studied ESs under climate change will depend on providing suitable (landward) space to sustain the functioning of the two marsh zones. In the studied marshes, these services are highly dependent on a few species (i.e., wave attenuation on Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani and Bolboschoenus maritimus and carbon storage on Phragmites australis), and as such, current and future ESs strongly depend on specific species' responses to changing environmental conditions.

opencc-zeroJun 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Ecosystem stability is determined by plant defense functional traits and population stability under mowing in a semi-arid temperate steppe

<ol> <li>As a common grassland management practice in many high-latitude regions worldwide, mowing has great impacts on grassland functioning and stability. Species richness, species asynchrony and species stability have been suggested as central in responses to environmental change. Mowing can evoke plant defense systems due to physical damages to plants. However, no studies have comprehensively evaluated the role of plant defense functional traits, species richness, species asynchrony and stability in ecosystem functioning under mowing regimes across time-scales. </li> <li> In the present study, we set up short-term (4-years) and long-term (16-years) mowing experiments with three stubble heights (control, 10 cm, 2 cm) in a temperate steppe of Inner Mongolia. We investigated the effects of mowing-induced changes in distribution metrics associated with plant defense traits, i.e. mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis of trait distribution, on ecosystem stability of grassland communities using structural equation modeling. </li> <li>We found that grassland ecosystem stability was enhanced by increasing mowing duration and decreasing stubble height. Mowing-induced increases in abundance and diversity of plant defense traits contributed to greater ecosystem stability by enhancing species asynchrony and population stability. Moreover, we found that mowing enhanced the abundance and diversity of plant defense traits of dominant species and contributed to population stability and species asynchrony, thus enhancing temporal stability of grassland ecosystems. </li> <li>These results demonstrate the important roles of plant defense traits in maintaining stability of grasslands under mowing, and highlight that, in addition to species richness, asynchrony and population stability, plant functional defense trait act in stabilizing ecosystem functions under human-induced environmental changes.</li> </ol>

opencc-zeroJun 2023View details →

zenodo36/100

Raw data accompanying the manuscript "Uptake of microplastics and impacts on plant traits of savoy cabbage"

These are the raw datasets used to generate Figure 1 for the manuscript entitled "Uptake of microplastics and impacts on plant traits of savoy cabbage". The folders contain all raw CARS and SRS data that are needed to reproduce Figure 1 (TIFF format).

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Predicting plant species climate preferences on the basis of mechanistic traits

Improved estimation of climate niches is critical, given climate change. Plant adaptation to climate depends on their physiological traits and their distributions, yet traits are rarely used to inform the estimation of species climate niches, and the power of a trait-based approach has been controversial, given the many ecological factors and methodological issues that may result in decoupling of species' traits from their native climate. For 107 species across six ecosystems of California, we tested the hypothesis that mechanistic leaf and wood traits can robustly predict the mean of diverse species' climate distributions, when combining methodological improvements from previous studies, including standard trait measurements and sampling plants growing together at few sites. Further, we introduce an approach to quantify species' trait-climate mismatch. We demonstrate a strong power to predict species' mean climate from traits. As hypothesized, the prediction of species' mean climate is stronger (and mismatch lower) when traits are sampled for individuals closer to species' mean climates. Improved resolution of species' climate niches based on mechanistic traits can importantly inform conservation of vulnerable species under the threat of climatic shifts in upcoming decades.

opencc-zeroAug 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Tackling local ecological homogeneity: Finding intraspecific trait variability in local populations of Mediterranean plants

Local homogeneity, in ecology, is the often undisclosed assumption that variability within populations is negligible or mostly distributed evenly. In large areas, this can lead to the aggregation of different populations without regard for their unique needs and characteristics, such as drought sensitivity and functional traits distributions. Here we discuss whether this assumption can be justified, and we hypothesize that discerning the source of variation between plasticity and adaptation could be a feasible approach to formulate an informed decision. We test this hypothesis on plants, resorting to a common garden experiment to determine the source of variation of several plant functional traits at a local scale (~60 Km) of three wild species: Quercus ilex, Pistacia lentiscus and Cistus salviifolius. Individuals of each species were sourced from three key sites chosen along a local aridity gradient. Our approach led to the rejection of the local homogeneity assumption for Q. ilex and C. salviifolius at this scale due to the adaptive divergence observed among neighbouring populations. This case study provides evidence that addressing local homogeneity can highlight diverging populations in a relatively simple way. We conclude that gathering empirical evidence on intraspecific variability is a feasible approach that can provide researchers with solid bases to decide whether to adopt the local homogeneity assumption or not.

opencc-zeroSep 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Artificial light at night (ALAN) decreases plant diversity and performance in experimental grassland communities – Data on species biomass and traits

Artificial light at night (ALAN) affects many areas of the world and is increasing globally. To date, there has been limited and inconsistent evidence regarding the consequences of ALAN on plant communities as well as the fitness of their constituent species. ALAN could be beneficial for plants as they need light as an energy source, but they also need darkness for regeneration and growth. We created model communities composed of 16 plant species sown, exposed to a gradient of ALAN ranging from 'moonlight only' to conditions like situations typically found directly underneath a streetlamp. We measured plant community composition and its production (biomass), as well as functional traits of three plant species from different functional groups (grasses, herbs, legumes) in two separate harvests. We found that biomass was reduced by 33% in the highest ALAN treatment compared to the control, Shannon diversity decreased by 43% and Evenness by 34% in the first harvest. Some species failed to establish in the second harvest. Specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content and leaf hairiness responded to ALAN. These responses suggest that plant communities will be sensitive to increasing ALAN, and they flag a need for plant conservation activities that consider impending ALAN scenarios.

opencc-zeroSep 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Effects of large mammal exclusion on seedling communities depend on plant species traits and landscape protection in human-modified Costa Rican forests

<ol> <li>Large terrestrial herbivorous mammals (LTH-mammals) influence plant community structure by affecting seedling establishment in mature tropical forests. Many of these LTH-mammals frequent secondary forests, but their effects on seedling establishment in them are understudied, hindering our understanding of how LTH-mammals influence forest regeneration in human-modified landscapes.</li> <li>We tested the hypothesis that the strength of LTH-mammals' effects on seedling establishment depends on landscape protection, forest successional stage, and plant species' traits using a manipulative field experiment in six 1-ha sites with varying successional age and landscape protection. In each site, we established forty seedling plot-pairs, with one plot excluding LTH-mammals and one not, and monitored seedlings of 116 woody species for 26 months.</li> <li>We found significant effects of LTH-mammal exclusion on seedling survival contingent upon the protection of forests at the landscape level and forest stage. After 26 months, survival differences between LTH-mammal exclusion and non-exclusion treatments were greater in protected than unprotected landscapes. Additionally, plant species' traits were related to the LTH-mammals' differential effects, as LTH-mammals reduced the survival of seedlings of larger-seeded species the most. Overall, LTH-mammals' effects translated into significant shifts in community composition as seedling communities inside and outside the exclosures diverged. Moreover, lower density and higher species diversity were found as early as 12 and 18 months outside than inside exclosures.</li> <li> Synthesis and applications. Insight into the interactions between LTH-mammals and seedling communities in forest regeneration can be instrumental in planning effective restoration efforts. We highlight the importance of landscape protection in seedling survival and the role of LTH-mammals in promoting seedling diversity in mature forests but also in secondary successional forests. The findings suggest that conservation efforts and possibly trophic rewilding can be important approaches for preserving diversity and influencing the trajectory of secondary tropical forest succession. However, we also caution that an overabundance of LTH-mammals may adversely impact the pace of forest succession due to their preference for large-seeded species. Therefore, a comprehensive wildlife management plan is indispensable. Additionally, longer-term studies on LTH-mammals are necessary to understand the effects of temporal fluctuations that are undetected in short-term studies.</li> </ol>

opencc-zeroOct 2023View details →

dryad36/100