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126 results for “forest understory”
Soil and understory CO2 respiration, CH4, and N2O fluxes, tree biomass and litter, and soil carbon stock after a long-term N fertilization of a Scots pine forest in Finland
<p>Data of forest soil respiration, soil and undestory respiration, CH4, and N2O fluxes, soil temperature and volumetric water content (Data_Karstula_GHG_temp.swc.csv), continuous soil temperature and moisture data (Data_Karstula_measured_temperature_2021_2023.csv, Data_Karstula_measured_moisture_2021_2023.csv), forest biomass and litter (Data_Karstula_total_biomass_litter.csv, Data_Karstula_measured_litter_2021_2023.csv), and soil C stocks (Data_Karstula_soc.csv) from the boreal Scots pine forest site Karstula after a long-term N fertilization in Finland (62°54'43.343"N; 24°34'16.021"E).</p> <p>The dataset is used for the publication "Tupek et al. : <strong>Lower sensitivity of microbial respiration to soil moisture after long-term N fertilization increases soil carbon retention in a Scots pine forest</strong>. 2024".</p>
Community characteristics of forest understory birds along an elevational gradient in the Horn of Africa: A multi-year baseline of Afromontane birds
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Feral pig (Sus scrofa) disturbance facilitates establishment of resource-acquisitive species in Hawaiian forest understories
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Variation in the location and timing of experimental severing demonstrates that the persistent rhizome serves multiple functions in a clonal forest understory herb
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Stand inventory data (overstory and understory) in northern New Mexico forests affected by western spruce budworm (Choristoneura freemani Razowski) defoliation, 2012-2013
Stand Selection Stands were selected based on data provided by the United States Forest Service insect and disease aerial survey maps. The following criteria was used for stand selection: 1. At least 50% of pre-2000 species composition comprised of the same host tree; 2. No forest treatments within previous 20 years; and 3. Similar slope, aspect, vegetation association and elevation. Stands ranged from west-central New Mexico to north-central New Mexico. Sampling was completed in the summers of 2012 and 2013 in the Mount Taylor stands and the summer of 2013 for the remainder of the stands. Plots A randomized, systematic grid of ten clusters of two 0.02 ha plots were established using GIS software and exported to a handheld GPS. One plot of each cluster was located on the intersection of the grid (‘grid plots’) and the second located 50m at a random azimuth from the established grid plot (‘cluster plots’). This methodology was shown to improve sampling efficiency for stand characteristics pertaining to western spruce budworm within a set allowable error (Lynch 2003). Five 0.001 ha nested regeneration plots were also established (described below). Plot Characteristics Vegetation association was assessed using the Plant Associations of Arizona and New Mexico habitat typing guide. Canopy cover was recorded using a GRS densiometer in 1m increments on two 15.96 m transects bisecting plot center running north to south and east to west. Measurements will begin at 1m and extend to 15m totaling 15 measurements on the north to south transect. The east to west transect will exclude the measurement at 8m to avoid repeated measurements. Canopy cover was calculated by the number of canopy “hits” divided by the total number of measurements taken Overstory Measurements Species and diameter at breast height (DBH) was measured for all trees greater than 12.7 cm in diameter occurring in plot. DBH was considered to be 1.37 meters above ground. The height and canopy base height of each t
Spatial patterns of understory vegetation and soil in an Alaskan upland boreal forest fire chronosequence. Three sites located in Delta Junction Alaska. Soil sampled during summer 2007
In this study we used geostatistics to characterize the spatial heterogeneity of soil carbon and nitrogen pools, microbial respiration, microbial biomass, nitrogen mineralization, soil moisture, soil pH, depth of organic horizon and forest floor covers and understory vegetation abundances in three sites (1999, 1987 and 1920 wildfires) of a boreal forest chronosequence of Interior Alaska (near Delta Junction). Soil sampling and vegetation measurements occured during summer 2007.
Trait coordination and environmental filters shape functional trait distributions of forest understory herbs
We test the importance of environmental filtering and trait covariance for structuring the functional traits of understory herbaceous communities.
Data from: Addition of nitrogen to canopy versus understory has different effects on leaf traits of understory plants in a subtropical evergreen broad–leaved forest
<p>Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has substantial effects on forest ecosystems. The effects of N deposition on understory plants have been simulated by spraying N on the forest floor. Such understory addition of N (UAN) might simulate atmospheric N deposition in a biased manner, because it bypasses the canopy.</p> <p>We compared the effects of UAN and canopy addition of N (CAN) at 0, 25, and 50 kg N ha<sup>–1</sup> year<sup>–1</sup> on specific leaf area (SLA), leaf construction costs (CC), concentrations of leaf carbon ([C]), nitrogen ([N]), phosphorus ([P]), minerals ([Mineral]), nitrate ([NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>]), lignin ([Lignin]), lipids ([Lipid]), organic acids ([OA]), soluble phenolics ([SP]), total non-structural carbohydrates ([TNC]), and total structural carbohydrates ([TSC]) in six dominant understory species in a subtropical evergreen forest after five years of N treatments.</p> <p>We found that leaf CC, [C], [Lignin], [OA], [TNC] and [TSC] were significantly affected by N-addition approach and rate, but leaf [P] and [Lipid] were affected by N-addition approach and N-addition rate, respectively; leaf CC, [C], [P], [OA], and [TNC] were significantly lower under UAN than under CAN, but leaf [TSC] and [Lignin] were significantly higher and lower, respectively, under UAN than under CAN at 50 kg N ha<sup>–1</sup> year<sup>–1</sup>; the decline of leaf [C] and [Lignin] contributed to the significantly lower leaf CC under UAN than under CAN.</p> <p><em>Synthesis</em>. We show that canopy and understory N addition exerted significantly different effects on leaf traits of understory plants. The results indicate that understory plants in subtropical forest respond differently to understory addition of N from those to atmospheric deposition of N. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the unbiased ecological processes and functions of forest ecosystem responding to atmospheric N deposition via both canopy and understory N addition experiments over a longer term.</p>
Data from: Direct effects of a non-native invader erode native plant fitness in the forest understory
1. The direct role of non-native plant invaders in driving negative population- and community-level processes of native species has been recently questioned. Addressing this controversy requires determining quantitatively if invaders negatively affect native population fitness. Because the invasion of non-natives often coincides with other anthropogenic stressors, experiments that partition the putative impact of non-natives from other known stressors and assess their potential synergies are required. While many studies have examined the effects of non-natives on components of native plant performance, studies that decompose the net fitness effects of non-natives from other anthropogenic stressors on population growth rate are lacking. 2. We used six years of detailed demographic data to parameterize a size-dependent integral projection model to examine the individual and combined effects of an allelochemical-producing invader (Alliaria petiolata) and an overabundant ungulate herbivore (Odocoileus virginianus) on the population dynamics of an understory perennial (Trillium erectum). 3. We show that Alliaria consistently and negatively affects the population dynamics of Trillium. Specifically, this invader reduces native population growth rate and alters the size distribution of the population at equilibrium. Alliaria also works in concert with the known negative impacts of overabundant white-tailed deer, illustrating the additive effects of anthropogenic stressors on native plant dynamics. 4. Synthesis. Alliaria's effects on vital rates differed in magnitude and sign across the native's lifecycle, highlighting the importance of detailed demographic analyses. Globally, our study provides novel empirical support for the claim that non-native invasive species can significantly and directly reduce the fitness of native plants.
Data from: Increases in understory plant cover and richness persist following restoration treatments in Pinus ponderosa forests
<p>A combination of forest thinning followed by prescribed burning is widely applied in the western US to increase ecosystem resistance and resilience to disturbances. Understory plant community responses may be driven both by management treatments and climatic factors. Thus, responses to treatments during a 20-year megadrought have implications for the role of management in fostering adaptive capacity to climate change.</p> <p>We used a network of five sites (600 plots) spanning an environmental gradient in ponderosa pine (<em>Pinus ponderosa</em>) forests of the American Southwest, an ecosystem that is broadly distributed and actively managed throughout the western US. We used repeated long-term monitoring data to quantify plant community responses to treatment 1-5, 6-10, and >10 years post-implementation. Specifically, we focused on the effects of treatment and abiotic conditions on native and nonnative plant cover and species richness, and on the proportion of native species with northern (cool-mesic) biogeographic affinities.</p> <p>Overall, thinning and prescribed burning nearly doubled native cover and increased native species richness by about 50% relative to untreated controls. These effects persisted for over a decade after treatment, even under the influence of significant and persistent drought. Cover and richness were also greater on intermediate to wet sites. Finally, native species with northern biogeographic affinities were reduced for up to five years after treatment relative to those with southern (warm-xeric) affinities, and in dry years, indicating that both management and interannual climate variability may foster shifts in plant communities that are more resilient to a warming climate.</p> <p>Synthesis and applications: In ponderosa pine forests of the American Southwest, tree thinning followed by prescribed burning will generally promote restoration goals of increasing resilience to climate change by enhancing the diversity and abundance of native understory plant species, even during a persistent 20-year megadrought.</p>
Native herbivore browsing alters plant physical and chemical traits in a eucalypt forest understory
<p>Macropods exhibit selective herbivory on plant traits within and between species and hence can alter plant trait variation. In this study we asked, what are the effects of macropod herbivory on intraspecific variation in plant traits of forest understorey species? We tested the effects of herbivory by macropods on eight plant traits, in nine understorey species using a herbivore exclusion experiment. Generalised linear mixed models were used to test for differences between herbivory treatments in trait means as well as variation within species and at the community level. Macropod herbivory resulted in differences in either the mean trait value or trait variance within a species for seven of the eight tested plant traits. Macropod exclusion resulted in larger dimensions of size for most species, as well as changes in specific leaf area, moisture content, and carbon content of leaves. Further, community-weighted means of specific leaf area, moisture content, and leaf nitrogen were lower in the presence of macropods. Plant trait variance was altered for three of the seven community weighted traits. This study demonstrates a mechanism through which macropods can drive changes in the traits of understorey plant species. Plant traits have been linked to various larger scale ecological processes including ecosystem flammability, nutrient cycling, response to global change and habitat suitability for other organisms. Therefore, herbivore-induced changes in plant trait variation and community composition could have important flow on effects for other environmental processes and hence should be considered in management decisions regarding fire-prone ecosystems.</p>
Changes in forest structure drive temperature preferences of boreal understory plant communities
<p>1. The local climate in forest understories can deviate substantially from ambient conditions. Moreover, forest microclimates are often characterized by cyclic changes driven by management activities such as clear-cutting and subsequent planting. To understand how and why understory plant communities change, both ambient climate change and temporal variation in forest structure has to be considered. 2. We used inventories from 11436 productive forest sites in Sweden repeated every 10th year 1993 - 2017 to examine how variation in forest structure influences changes in the average value of minimum and maximum temperature preferences of all species in a community, i.e. community temperature indices (CTI). We then evaluated to what extent these changes were driven by local extinctions and colonizations, respectively, and to what extent the difference in CTI value between two inventories were related to changes in forest density and in macroclimate. Lastly, we tested whether effects on CTI change by these two drivers were modified by topography, soil moisture and tree species composition. 3. CTI values of the understory plant communities increased after clear-cutting, and decreased during periods when the forest grew denser. During the period immediately after clear-cutting, changes were predominately driven by colonizations of species with a preference for higher temperatures. During the forest regeneration phase, both colonization by species preferring lower temperatures and local extinctions of species preferring higher temperatures increased. The change in understory CTI over 10-year periods was explained more by changes in forest density, than by changes in macroclimate. Soil moisture, topography and forest tree species composition modified to some extent the effects of changes in forest density and in macroclimate on understory CTI values. 4. Synthesis. Via stand manipulation, forest management impacts the effects of regional climate on understory plant communities. This implies that forest management by creating denser stands locally even can counterbalance the effects of regional changes in climate by creating denser stands locally. Consequently, interpretations of changes in the mean temperature preference of species in forest understory communities should take forest management regimes into account. </p>
Data: Interactive effects of drought and edge exposure on old-growth forest understory species
<p><span>Context: Both climatic extremes and land-use change constitute severe threats to biodiversity, but their interactive effects remain poorly understood. In forest ecosystems, the effects of climatic extremes can be exacerbated at forest edges. </span></p> <p><span>Objectives: We explore the hypothesis that an extreme summer drought reduced the richness and coverage of old-growth forest species, particularly in forest patches with high edge exposure. </span></p> <p><span>Methods: Using a high-resolution spatially explicit precipitation dataset, we could detect variability in drought intensity during the summer drought of 2018. We selected 60 old-growth boreal forest patches in central Sweden that differed in their level of drought intensity and amount of edge exposure. The year after the drought, we surveyed red-listed and old-growth forest indicator species of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes. We assessed if species richness, composition, and coverage were related to drought intensity, edge exposure, and their interaction.</span></p> <p><span>Results: Species richness was negatively related to drought intensity in forest patches with a high edge exposure, but not in patches with less edge exposure. Patterns differed among organism groups and were strongest for cyanolichens, epiphytes associated with high-pH bark, and species occurring on convex substrates such as trees and logs.</span></p> <p><span>Conclusions: Our results show that the effects of an extreme climatic event on forest species can vary strongly across a landscape. Edge exposed old-growth forest patches are more at risk under extreme climatic events than those in continuous forests. This suggest that maintaining buffer zones around forest patches with high conservation values should be an important conservation measure. </span></p>
Chronic browsing by an introduced mammalian herbivore in a tropical island alters species composition and functional traits of forest understory plant communities
<p>Mammalian herbivores have large-scale impacts on vegetation, altering structure and species composition, especially in tropical grasslands and savannas. However, there is limited understanding of the potential impacts of mammalian herbivores in tropical wet forests, where they are typically less abundant. We investigated the effects of an introduced mammalian herbivore chital (<em>Axis axis</em>) on vegetation structure, composition and leaf functional traits of tropical evergreen forests of the Andaman Islands, India. Across seven islands, representing a gradient of herbivore densities, increasing chital presence was associated with decreased understory richness, understory density and adult tree richness, but was not related to adult tree density or size class distributions. We also found a significant decrease in community-level leaf palatability traits (specific leaf area decreased and leaf thickness increased) with increasing chital habitat use. This community-level shift in leaf trait values was better explained by intra-specific variation in leaf traits across islands rather than changes in species composition. In summary, we show persistent long-term impacts of an introduced mammalian herbivore on understory tropical tree communities although there is little impact on adult tree communities. Our results also show that functional traits of species can be altered in response to novel herbivory, even at herbivore densities where there are no detectable impacts on adult forest structure or composition. Such altered functional traits may potentially alter ecosystem functioning in these forests even without changes in vegetation structure.</p>
Data from: Amazonian rivers are leaky barriers to gene flow in forest understory birds
<p>Ever since Alfred Russel Wallace's nineteenth-century observation that related terrestrial species are often separated on opposing riverbanks, major Amazonian rivers have been recognized as key drivers of speciation. However, rivers are dynamic entities whose widths and courses may vary through time. It thus remains unknown how effective rivers are at reducing gene flow and promoting speciation over long timescales. We fit demographic models to genomic sequence to reconstruct the history of gene flow in three pairs of avian taxa fully separated by different Amazonian rivers, and whose geographic ranges do not make contact in headwater regions. Models with gene flow were best fit, but still supported an initial period without any gene flow which ranged from 187,000 to over 959,000 years, suggesting that rivers are capable of initiating speciation through long stretches of allopatric divergence. Allopatry was followed by either bursts or prolonged episodes of gene flow that retarded genomic differentiation but did not homogenize populations. Our results support Amazonian rivers as key barriers that promoted speciation and the buildup of species richness, but they also suggest that river barriers are often leaky, with genomic divergence accumulating slowly due to episodes of substantial gene flow.</p>
Data from: Canopy cover and soil moisture influence forest understory plant responses to experimental summer drought
<p>Extreme droughts are globally increasing in frequency and severity. Most research on drought in forests focuses on the response of trees, while less is known about the impacts of drought on forest understory species and how these effects are moderated by the local environment.</p> <p>We assessed the impacts of a 45-day experimental summer drought on the performance of six boreal forest understory plants, using a transplant experiment with rainout shelters replicated across 25 sites. We recorded growth, vitality and reproduction immediately, two months, and one year after the simulated drought, and examined how differences in ambient soil moisture and canopy cover among sites influenced the effects of drought on the performance of each species.</p> <p>Drought negatively affected the growth and/or vitality of all species, but the effects were stronger and more persistent in the bryophytes than in the vascular plants. The two species associated with older forests, the moss <em>Hylocomiastrum umbratum</em> and the orchid <em>Goodyera repens</em>, suffered larger effects than the more generalist species included in the experiment. The drought reduced reproductive output in the moss <em>Hylocomium splendens </em>in the next growing season, but increased reproduction in the graminoid <em>Luzula pilosa</em>. Higher ambient soil moisture reduced some negative effects of drought on vascular plants. Both denser canopy cover and higher soil moisture alleviated drought effects on bryophytes, likely through alleviating cellular damage.</p> <p>Our experiment shows that boreal understory species can be adversely affected by drought and that effects might be stronger for bryophytes and species associated with older forests. Our results indicate that the effects of drought can vary over small spatial scales and that forest landscapes can be actively managed to alleviate drought effects on boreal forest biodiversity. For example, by managing the tree canopy and protecting hydrological networks.</p>
The role of canopy cover dynamics over a decade of changes in the understory of an Atlantic beech-oak forest
<p>This dataset hosts the main data and R codes of the analyses carried out to study the role of canopy cover dynamics over a decade of changes in the understory of an Atlantic Beech-Oak forest. We measured changes in understory taxonomical and functional composition, richness and diversity between 2006 and 2016, and relate those changes to changes in canopy coverage between both years.</p> <p>The data show changes between 2006 and 2016 in the species abundance, richness and diversity of 102 understory communities, and in the functional composition, richness and diversity for five functional traits (Leaf dry matter content, Specific leaf area, Leaf size, Plant height and Seed mass). Changes in canopy coverage between 2006 and 2016 were studied as an explanatory variable.</p> <p>The R codes show the main analyses carried out in the study: 1) The calculation of the functional composition, richness and diversity of the five traits studied (Leaf dry matter content, Specific leaf area, Leaf size, Plant height and Seed mass), 2) a Dunnett's modified Tukey-Kramer test used to test for significant relationships between four plot categories defined according to the presence or absence of canopy gaps (no gaps, gap closure, gap opening and gap persistence) and changes in the taxonomical and functional composition and diversity of the understory from 2006 to 2016. 3) An Indicator Species Analysis used to study the species that were indicators of gap opening or closure in the Atlantic Beech-Oak forest studied. 4) The calculation of the Standardized Effect Size for the functional traits of the indicator species, used to see if the species selected as gap indicators shared similar values of functional traits and had values significantly different from non-indicator species.</p>
Dynamics and recovery of forest understory biodiversity over 17 years following varying levels of retention harvesting
<p>1. Retention harvesting is advocated as an alternative to intensive timber harvesting, such as clear-cutting, to better maintain or facilitate recovery of biodiversity and other ecological values in managed forests. However, it is not clear how long the benefits of retention harvests persist.</p> <p>2. We investigated responses of understory vascular plant cover, richness, diversity (inverse Simpson index), and composition to a gradient in dispersed retention (2% [clear-cut], 10%, 20%, 50% and 75% retention; unharvested reference [100% retention]) at 3, 6, 11, and 17 years after harvest, in four boreal mixed wood forest types (deciduous (broadleaf)-dominated, deciduous-dominated with conifer understory, mixed, and conifer-dominated) in western Canada.</p> <p>3. Understory cover and richness tended to increase in the short-term (3 years), peaked at 6–11 years with differences following the gradient of harvesting intensity, then plateaued or declined in the second decade (17 years), by which time there were minimal or no differences among harvesting levels, including the reference. Responses for diversity were minimal. In contrast, composition varied along the gradient of harvesting intensity and showed little recovery towards the unharvested condition over the 17-year period. Generally, for plant community composition, clear-cut and lower retention treatments (10%, 20%) were similar to one another but differed from the higher retention and unharvested reference treatments.</p> <p>4. Synthesis and applications. Retention harvests can moderate the negative impacts of harvesting and facilitate the recovery of biodiversity. Our results suggest that for the cover, richness and diversity of understory vascular plants, this moderating influence is weak and short-lived. However, higher levels of retention can temper changes in understory composition relative to the unharvested forest, but full recovery is likely to be slow and will be complicated by post-harvest regeneration dynamics.</p>
Leaf traits of understory woody species in the Congo Basin forests changed over a 60 years period
<p>Data collected in Yangambambi (DR Congo) and used to prepare the article accepted for publication in the journal Plant Ecology and Evolution. </p>
Data for: Effects of understory characteristics on browsing patterns of roe deer in central European mountain forests
<p><span>Selective browsing by deer on young trees may impede the management goal of increasing forest resilience against climate change and other disturbances. Deer population density is often considered the main driver of browsing impacts on young trees, however a range of other variables such as food availability also affect this relationship. In this study, we use browsing survey data from 135 research plots to explore patterns of roe deer (<em>Capreolus capreolus</em>) browsing pressure on woody plants in mountainous forests in central Europe. We fitted species-specific generalized linear mixed models for eight woody taxa, assessing potential effects of understory characteristics, roe deer abundance and lying deadwood on browsing intensity. Our study reveals conspecific and associational effects for woody taxa that are intermediately browsed by roe deer. Selective browsing pressure was mediated by preferences of plants, in that, browsing of strongly preferred woody taxa as for example mountain ash (<em>Sorbus aucuparia</em>) and of least preferred woody taxa e.g., Norway spruce (<em>Picea abies</em>) was not affected by the surrounding understory vegetation, while browsing pressure on intermediately browsed species like for example silver fir (<em>Abies alba</em>) was affected by understory characteristics. Contrary to our expectations, roe deer abundance was only positively associated with browsing pressure on silver fir and bilberry (<em>Vaccinium myrtillus</em>), while all other plants were unaffected by deer abundance. Finally, we did not find an influence of lying deadwood volume on the browsing pressure on any woody-plant species. Overall, our results indicate that patterns in browsing preference and intensity are species-specific processes and are partly affected by the surrounding understory vegetation. Current management strategies that aim to reduce browsing pressure through culling may be inefficient as they do not address other drivers of browsing pressure. However, managers also need to consider the characteristics of the local understory vegetation in addition to deer abundance, and design species-specific plans to reduce browsing on woody plant taxa.</span></p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
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