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97 results for “vegetation structure”

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dryad32/100

Data from: Climate and vegetation structure shape ant communities along elevational gradients on the Colorado Plateau

Aim: Terrestrial animal communities are largely shaped by vegetation and climate. With climate also shaping vegetation, can we attribute animal patterns solely to climate? To understand this, we compare the relative and interactive effects of climate and vegetation on an animal community. Our study observes ant community changes along climatic gradients (i.e. elevational gradients) within different habitat types (i.e. open and forest). We compare the explanatory powers and effect sizes of climate and vegetation variables on ant communities and describe what drives elevational distributions of ant species. Location: Colorado Plateau, southwestern United States Taxon: Formicidae Methods: We sampled ants and vegetation along two elevational gradients spanning 1132m with average annual temperature and precipitation differences of 5.7C° and 645 mm, respectively. Regression analysis and structural equation modeling was then used to test the relative effects of climate and vegetation variables on ant communities. Results: Climate variables had the strongest correlations and the largest effect sizes on ant communities, while vegetation composition, richness, and primary productivity were relatively small. Precipitation was the strongest predictor for most ant community metrics. Ant richness and abundance had a negative relationship with precipitation in forested habitats, and positive in open habitats. Main conclusions: Our results show strong direct climate effects on ants with little or no effects of vegetation composition or primary productivity, but contrasting patterns between vegetation type (i.e. forested vs open) with precipitation. This indicates vegetation structure can modulate climate responses of ant communities. Our study demonstrates climate-animal relationships may vary among vegetation types which can impact both findings from elevational studies and how communities will react to changes in climate.

opencc-zeroAug 2021View details →

dryad32/100

The trajectories of vegetative structure and soil microbial function diverged across a fire chronosequence of the boreal forests in Northeast China

The role of boreal forest to ameliorate the effect of global climate change largely depends on the regeneration of postfire forests in northeast China. The postfire recovery of boreal forest can be evaluated by the aboveground vegetative structure and soil microbial function. In present study, a 50-year fire chronosequence was established, and the biomass of forbs, shrub and woody plant was separately weighted to assess their contribution to the whole community with the year since fire (YSF). Simultaneously, soil biophysical properties were measured for stands in different time period after fire. Soil microbial functions, i.e., growth efficiency (GE) and carbon use efficiency (CUE), were calculated basing on ecoenzymatic and soil nutrient stoichiometry. In terms of vegetative structure, forbs' proportion decreased from 75% to 1.5%, but the proportion of woody plant increased from 0.04% to 70% across this fire chronosequence. In contrast, soil microbial function reached the highest value in 15 YSF and then began to decrease. As an important variable, soil metal content, particularly the calcium content, showed a positive correlation with woody plant biomass and a negative with soil microbial function. Furthermore, soil metal content was significantly increased in the late stage of this fire chronosequence. Overall, the present work highlighted that the time period of 15 YSF and 31 YSF was a hallmark stage for aboveground vegetative structure and soil microbial function to change in different trends, and the calcium content may partly account for these two divergent trajectories.

opencc-zeroOct 2021View details →

dryad32/100

You eat what you find – local patterns in vegetation structure control diets of African fungus-growing termites

Fungus-growing termites and their symbiotic Termitomyces fungi are critically important carbon and nutrient recyclers in arid and semiarid environments of sub-Saharan Africa. A major proportion of plant litter produced in these ecosystems is decomposed within nest chambers of termite mounds, where temperature and humidity are kept optimal for the fungal symbionts. While fungus-growing termites are generally believed to exploit a wide range of different plant substrates, the actual diets of most species remain elusive. We studied dietary niches of two Macrotermes species across the semiarid savanna landscape in the Tsavo Ecosystem, southern Kenya, based on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotopes in Termitomyces fungus combs. We applied Bayesian mixing models to determine the proportion of grass and woody plant matter in the combs, these being the two major food sources available for Macrotermes species in the region. Our results showed that both termite species, and colonies cultivating different Termitomyces fungi, occupied broad and largely overlapping isotopic niches, indicating no dietary specialization. Including laser scanning derived vegetation cover estimates to the dietary mixing model revealed that the proportion of woody plant matter in fungus combs increased with increasing woody plant cover in the nest surroundings. Nitrogen content of fungus combs was positively correlated with woody plant cover around the mounds and negatively correlated with the proportion of grass matter in the comb. Considering the high N demand of large Macrotermes colonies, woody plant matter seems to thus represent a more profitable food source than grass. As grass is also utilized by grazing mammals, and the availability of grass matter typically fluctuates over the year, mixed woodland-grasslands and bushlands seem to represent more favorable habitats for large Macrotermes colonies than open grasslands.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

zenodo32/100

Monitoring programme on strict forest reserves in Flanders (Belgium) - site level stand structure, regeneration and vegetation data

This dataset contains comprehensive statistics on stand structure, rejuvenation, and vegetation for each forest reserve included in the monitoring program on strict forest reserves in Flanders (Belgium). The data collection and processing methodology used are described in <a href="https://purews.inbo.be/ws/portalfiles/portal/41050863/Vandekerkhove_etal_2021_MonitoringProgrammeOnStrictForestReservesFlanders.pdf">Vandekerkhove et al., 2021</a>. The dataset encompasses information on 15 distinct strict forest reserves and covers one to three consecutive forest inventories following a 10-year cycle.  The "site_info.xlsx" file provides details on the 15 sites, including central coordinates, surface area, forest type, and the year when they were set aside. For detailed descriptions of the information provided, please refer to the "_metadata_site_info.xlsx" file. The “statistics_per_reserve.zip” file contains 12 separate csv-files with the following data: <ul> <li> stat_dendro(_by)(_diam)(_species).csv : statistics on basic stand structure attributes (volume, basal area, number of trees per hectare, …) for living and dead standing trees (DBH-threshold 5cm): overall values and values per diameter class and/or species  </li> <li> stat_carbon.csv : statistics on biomass and carbon stock related to living trees </li> <li> stat_logs(_by)(_decay)(_species).csv : statistics on volume per hectare of lying deadwood: values per decay stage and/or species  </li> <li> stat_reg(_by)(_height)(_species).csv : statistics on rejuvenation (numbers per ha of young trees - seedlings up to trees with DBH< 5cm): overall values and values per heightclass and/or species  </li> <li> stat_veg.csv : statistics on vegetation characteristics, including number of species, moss, herb, shrub, tree and waterlayer cover, cumulated canopy cover and soil disturbance by game </li> <li> stat_herbs.csv : species-specific mean cover, percentage of plots where each species occurs </li> </ul> For descriptions of the common fields used in the above csv-files, please consult the "_metadata_statistics.xlsx" file.  For detailed and comprehensive information regarding the meaning and characteristics of the calculated variables, please refer to the "_metadata_variables.xlsx" file.  Plot-level results regarding dendrometry and regeneration are published separately<a href="https://zenodo.org/record/7588680"> here</a>, while information on vegetation can be found<a href="https://zenodo.org/record/7870740"> here</a>. For any inquiries or further information, please contact Kris.vandekerkhove@inbo.be or Anja.leyman@inbo.be. The provided csv-files will be updated as required to address any issues or include data from additional surveys. . Please check for updated versions periodically. We ask the users of the dataset to notify us of its use.

opencc-by-4.0Jun 2023View details →

dryad32/100