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opencc-zeroOct 2020View details →

Responses of four dominant dryland plant species to climate change in the Junggar Basin, north-west China

Aim Dryland ecosystems are exceedingly sensitive to climate change. Desertification induced by both climate changes and human activities seriously threatens the dryland vegetation. However, the impact of climate change on distributions of dryland plant species has not been well documented. Here, we studied the potential distributions of four representative dryland plant species (Haloxylon ammodendron, Anabasis aphylla, Calligonum mongolicum, and Populus euphratica) under current and future climate scenarios in a temperate desert region, aiming to improve our understanding of the responses of dryland plant species to climate change and provide guidance for dryland conservation and afforestation. Location Junggar Basin, a large desert region in north-western China. Methods Occurrence data of the studied species were collected from an extensive field investigation of 2516 sampling sites in the Junggar Basin. Ensemble species distribution models using 10 algorithms were developed and used to predict the potential distribution of each studied species under current and future climate scenarios. Result H. ammodendron and A. aphylla were likely to lose most of their current suitable habitats under future climate scenarios, while C. mongolicum and P. euphratica were likely to expand their ranges or remain relatively stationary. Variable importance evaluation showed that the most important climate variables influencing species distributions differed across the studied species. These results may be explained by the different ecophysiological characteristics and adaptation strategies to the environment of the four studied species. Main conclusions We explored the responses of the representative dryland plant species to climate change in the Junggar Basin in north-western China. The different changes in suitability of different species imply that policymakers may need to reconsider the selection and combination of the afforestation species used in this area. This study can provide valuable reference for the management and conservation of dryland ecosystems under future climate change scenarios.

opencc-zeroJan 2021View details →

Data from: Intraspecific variations in leaf traits, productivity, and resource use efficiencies in the dominant species of subalpine evergreen coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved forests along the altitudinal gradient

Many studies have reported intraspecific variations in leaf functional traits, but their contribution to plant performance and ecosystem function are poorly understood. We studied altitudinal gradients of intraspecific variations in leaf traits, productivity, and resource use efficiency in the dominant species of subalpine evergreen coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved forests in Japan. We addressed three hypotheses, which are exclusive to each other. 1) Leaf traits vary along the leaf economics spectrum (LES). Plants that grow at lower and higher altitudes have fast- and slow-return strategies, respectively, which improve productivity or resource use efficiency in the respective habitat. 2) Leaf trait variations are not consistent with the LES, but they contribute to improving productivity or resource use efficiency in the respective habitat. 3) Leaf trait variations do not contribute to improving productivity or resource use efficiency at higher altitudes. On the studied mountain range, Fagus crenata, a deciduous broad-leaved tree, and Abies mariesii, an evergreen conifer, are the dominant species at lower and higher altitudes, respectively. In F. crenata, leaf mass per area (LMA) and nitrogen concentrations were higher at higher altitudes. The net assimilation rate and light use efficiency during the growing season were greater at higher altitudes, which compensated for the shorter growing season in terms of annual productivity. In A. mariesii, the LMA was lower and the leaf life span was unchanged at higher altitudes. Productivity and resource use efficiency decreased with altitude. We conclude that F. crenata improves its productivity and resource use efficiency at higher altitudes by altering its leaf functional traits (Hypothesis 2), whereas alterations to leaf traits in A. mariesii are not associated with any improvement at higher altitudes (Hypothesis 3), which may result from the negative impact of environmental stress. Hence, the ecological significance of altitude to leaf trait variations depends on species and environment.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Metabolic characteristics of dominant microbes and key rare species from an acidic hot spring in Taiwan revealed by metagenomics

Background: Microbial diversity and community structures in acidic hot springs have been characterized by 16S rRNA gene-based diversity surveys. However, our understanding regarding the interactions among microbes, or between microbes and environmental factors, remains limited. Results: In the present study, a metagenomic approach, followed by bioinformatics analyses, were used to predict interactions within the microbial ecosystem in Shi-Huang-Ping (SHP), an acidic hot spring in northern Taiwan. Characterizing environmental parameters and potential metabolic pathways highlighted the importance of carbon assimilatory pathways. Four distinct carbon assimilatory pathways were identified in five dominant genera of bacteria. Of those dominant carbon fixers, Hydrogenobaculum bacteria outcompeted other carbon assimilators and dominated the SHP, presumably due to their ability to metabolize hydrogen and to withstand an anaerobic environment with fluctuating temperatures. Furthermore, most dominant microbes were capable of metabolizing inorganic sulfur-related compounds (abundant in SHP). However, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was the only species among key rare microbes with the capability to fix nitrogen, suggesting a key role in nitrogen cycling. In addition to potential metabolic interactions, based on the 16S rRNAs gene sequence of Nanoarchaeum-related and its potential host Ignicoccus-related archaea, as well as sequences of viruses and CRISPR arrays, we inferred that there were complex microbe-microbe interactions. Conclusions: Our study provided evidence that there were numerous microbe-microbe and microbe-environment interactions within the microbial community in an acidic hot spring. We proposed that Hydrogenobaculum bacteria were the dominant microbial genus, as they were able to metabolize hydrogen, assimilate carbon and live in an anaerobic environment with fluctuating temperatures.

opencc-zeroJul 2019View details →

Data from: Traits including leaf dry matter content and leaf pH dominate over forest soil pH as drivers of litter decomposition among 60 species

1. Soil pH varies by several units among ecosystems. While soil pH is known to be a key driver of plant species composition, we still have a poor understanding of how it affects carbon cycling processes. For instance, soil pH, or its associated chemistry in terms of base cations and organic acids, may affect decomposition rates of dead matter directly, by controlling decomposer composition and activity, and indirectly, by controlling the traits of the plant species and thereby the afterlife effects of those traits on litter decomposition. Leaf and litter pH may play a role in this control. Based on the very limited empirical data available, we hypothesized that variation in species traits including leaf (litter) pH, within and between ecosystems contrasting in soil pH, would have stronger effects on leaf litter decomposition rates than variation in soil chemistry would. 2. We tested this hypothesis by carrying out a 'common garden' litterbed experiment in subtropical SW China, in which leaf litters of the 30 predominant plant species from mid-successional forest on acidic sandstone (soil pH around 4.0) and calcareous soil (pH around 7.5) respectively, were incubated and their decomposition rates measured over two harvests in fourteen months, both in soil plus litter matrix from their 'home' forest and in those from the "away" forest. 3. We found that leaf (litter) trait variation among species and plant functional types, headed by species' dry matter content but also including tissue pH, was the strongest driver of variation in leaf litter decomposition rates. Surprisingly however, while these effects of interspecific trait variation were very strong among species from the same site, there was no overall difference in litter decomposability between the species from the acidic versus calcareous site. Equally surprising was that this strong difference in pH of soil substrate plus litter matrix from an acidic sandstone site versus a calcareous karst site did not directly affect leaf litter decomposition rates across a given species set. 4. This first attempt to disentangle the multiple potential direct and indirect ways in which soil and leaf (litter) acidity might be related to litter decomposition rates, has important implications for our understanding of soil-plant feedbacks. Based on our forest-based study, we predict that soil-plant feedbacks via acidity are unlikely to be strong in ecosystems with wide-ranging species in terms of their leaf functional traits, including leaf pH.

opennotspecifiedMar 2023View details →

Fig. 3 in Morphometric and genetic variations of four dominant species of snappers (Lutjanidae) harvested from the Northern Coast of Aceh waters, Indonesia

Fig. 3. Traditional morphometric characters of snapper measured in this study.

opennotspecifiedMar 2023View details →

Fig. 2 in Morphometric and genetic variations of four dominant species of snappers (Lutjanidae) harvested from the Northern Coast of Aceh waters, Indonesia

Fig. 2. Four dominant snappers harvested from the northern coast of Aceh.

opencc-by-4.0Apr 2024View details →

Taxonomic classification and dominance status of the 144 plant species analyzed in the study.

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opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Can prescribed fires restore C4 grasslands invaded by a C3 woody species and a co-dominant C3 grass species?

Prescribed fire is used to reduce woody plant invasion and restore herbaceous production and diversity in grasslands and savannas worldwide. Here we determined if a concentrated series of repeated-winter, repeated-summer, or alternate-season (winter and summer) fires in a short timeframe ("transition fires") could catalyze the restoration of C4 perennial grasses in Southern Great Plains, USA grasslands that had become dominated by a fire-tolerant C3 woody N2-fixer (honey mesquite, Prosopis glandulosa) and a C3 perennial bunchgrass (Texas wintergrass, Nassella leucotricha). We applied transition fires over a 5-year span, and maintenance fires on a portion of each plot 7 or 8 years later. We measured herbaceous standing biomass and cover and soil variables (soil organic C, N, δ13C and δ15N) in unburned, transition-burned and maintenance-burned treatments. Greater δ13C at 10-20 (-17 ‰) than 0-10 (-20 ‰) cm depth increment confirmed that vegetation was historically mostly C4 grassland that shifted towards C3 dominance. Transition treatments with summer fire were most effective at top-killing mesquite, but no treatments root-killed >3%. Regrowth of top-killed mesquite was similar in all treatments and reached pre-fire height by 9 to 10 years post-fire. Herbaceous production and cover responses showed that: (1) alternate-season transition fires increased C4 mid-grass, but did not change Texas wintergrass, (2) repeated-summer fires reduced Texas wintergrass, but did not change C4 mid-grass, and (3) repeated-winter fires did not change C4 mid-grass or Texas wintergrass compared to the unburned control. All maintenance fires stimulated Texas wintergrass biomass and cover, thus eliminating the reduction of Texas wintergrass caused by repeated-summer transition fires. There were no long-term effects of transition fires on soil C, N, δ13C or δ15N. Results advance our understanding of the expectations and limitations of prescribed fire in shifting a woodland alternate state toward what was historically a fire supported C4 grassland/savanna.

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →

Data from: Increase in leaf organic acids to enhance adaptability of dominant plant species in karst habitats

Estimation of leaf nutrient composition of dominant plant species from contrasting habitats (i.e. karst and non-karst forests) provides an opportunity to understand how plants are adapted to karst habitats from the perspective of leaf traits. Here, we measured leaf traits – specific leaf area (SLA), concentrations of total carbon ([TC]), nitrogen ([TN]), phosphorus ([TP]), calcium ([Ca]), magnesium ([Mg]), manganese ([Mn]), minerals ([Min]), soluble sugars, soluble phenolics, lipids, and organic acids ([OA]) – and calculated water–use efficiency (WUE), construction costs (CC) and N/P ratios, and searched for correlations between these traits of 18 abundant plant species in karst and non–karst forests in southwesten China. Variation in leaf traits within and across the abundant species was both divergent and convergent. Leaf [TC], [Ca], [Min], [OA] and CC were habitat–dependent, while the others were not habitat- but species-specific. The correlations among [TN], [TP], SLA, [TC], CC, [Min], WUE, [OA], and CC were habitat–independent, and inherently associated with plant growth and carbon allocation; those between [CC] and [Lip], between [Ca] and [Mg], and between [Mg] and [WUE] were habitat–dependent. Habitat significantly affected leaf [Ca], and thus indirectly affected leaf [OA], [Min], and CC. Our results indicate that plants may regulate leaf [Ca] to moderate levels via adjusting leaf [OA] under both high and low soil Ca availability, and offer new insights into the abundance of common plant species in contrasting habitats.

opennotspecifiedSep 2022View details →

FIGURE 4. a–d in A new edible species of Lactifluus (Russulaceae) from Shorea robusta dominated forests in tropical India

FIGURE 4. a–d. Collection of booties and uses for culinary purposes.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Supplementary material 1 from: Yazlık A, Ambarlı D (2022) Do non-native and dominant native species carry a similar risk of invasiveness? A case study for plants in Turkey. In: Giannetto D, Piria M, Tarkan AS, Zięba G (Eds) Recent advancements in the risk screening of freshwater and terrestrial non-native species. NeoBiota 76: 53-72. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.76.85973

Tables S1–S3, Figure S1

Fig. 5 in Ecomorphology and resource use by dominant species of tropical estuarine juvenile fishes

Fig. 5. Dendrogram from cluster analysis for ecomorphological attributes of seventeen fish species in the rio Mamanguape estuary. The code for species is as in Table 1.

Fig. 4 in Ecomorphology and resource use by dominant species of tropical estuarine juvenile fishes

Fig. 4. Ordination diagram for the rio Mamanguape estuary, from the first two principal components for the ecomorphological attributes of seventeen studied species. The codes for species are as in Table 1.

Fig. 3 in Ecomorphology and resource use by dominant species of tropical estuarine juvenile fishes

Fig. 3. Factor loads from principal component analysis on ecomorphological attributes of selected fish species. CI = compression index; RH = relative height; RPL = relative peduncle length; CPCI = caudal peduncle compression index; IVF = index of ventral flattening; APFR = aspect of pectoral fin ratio; REP = relative eye position; RHL = relative head length; RMW = relative mouth width; RMH = relative mouth height; MAR = mouth aspect ratio.

Fig. 6 in Ecomorphology and resource use by dominant species of tropical estuarine juvenile fishes

Fig. 6. Diagram of Canonical Discriminant Analysis for the ecomorphological indices of the fishes grouping in habitat types in the rio Mamanguape estuary (Mudflat, Beach and Mangrove creeks).

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

Figure 4 in Organic farming and moderate tillage change the dominance and spatial structure of soil Collembola communities but have little effects on bulk abundance and species richness

Figure 4. Spatial random effects explaining abundance, number of species and Berger-Parker index in samples in different management types. Grayscale palette shows scales (meters, 25cm-plots, 7-cm plots). Barplots show Tau parameter of the (spatial) random effects; mixed-effects models were run in each management type separately.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

Figure 1 in Organic farming and moderate tillage change the dominance and spatial structure of soil Collembola communities but have little effects on bulk abundance and species richness

Figure 1. Location of the fields studied with different treatments: ODISK (Organic farming and Disking - C and D circles), OTILL (Organic farming and Tillage - A and Bsquares), and CONV (Conventional farming - E and F triangles). Coordinates of locations: A: N 54.482 E 34.928, B: N 54.496 E 34.933, C: N 54.543 E 34.880, D: N 54.555 E 34.996, E: N 54.585 E 35.0187, F: N 54.570 E 34.974. The altitude was from 175 to 234 m above sea level depending on the field.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

Figure 2 in Organic farming and moderate tillage change the dominance and spatial structure of soil Collembola communities but have little effects on bulk abundance and species richness

Figure 2. Spatially nested hierarchical sampling design. In total, 486 samples were collected from 6 fields across 3 management types.