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29 results for “Forest Herb”
Variation in the location and timing of experimental severing demonstrates that the persistent rhizome serves multiple functions in a clonal forest understory herb
<p>1. In clonal plants, persistent rhizomes can serve multiple purposes, including resource storage, modulation of heterogenous resource distributions, maintenance of bud banks and promotion of recovery from disturbance. Clonal plants are commonly long-lived and, in temperate zones, often exhibit organ preformation. Thus, investigations of how the timing of disturbance to the rhizome affects plant performance must occur over multiple growing seasons, but these types of studies are rare.</p> <p>2. We conducted a field experiment to examine how the persistent rhizome supports the existing shoot, new ramet production, and recovery from damage using mayapple (<i>Podophyllum peltatum</i>; Berberidaceae), a common herbaceous perennial of low-light forest understories in Eastern North America. Mayapple maintains a long-lived rhizome and exhibits a developmentally-programmed seasonal pattern of resource transport and new ramet initiation. We varied both the position and timing of rhizome severing in rhizome systems with terminal sexual or vegetative shoots, and tracked plants for two years following severing.</p> <p>3. The location and timing of severing affected both plant persistence (production of new shoots) and performance (leaf area), with effects differing for new shoots at the front vs. the back of the rhizome system. Across years, severing location and past years' shoot size influenced plant persistence and performance, while the effect of timing of severing diminished; initial sexual status had little effect on rhizome system response that was not accounted for by initial leaf area. Severing generally led to the establishment of two independent rhizome systems. Relative to unmanipulated control systems, these two systems had more total leaf area, but less average leaf area per system.</p> <p>4. Synthesis. Our results point to the rhizome as a resource integrator that affects plant responses to disturbance immediately following damage and in subsequent growing seasons. Rhizome bud age and/or subtending rhizome size, and developmental program influence responses to disturbance. While the effects of experimental disturbance on plant performance decreased two years after disturbance, further long-term investigation is needed to fully understand the demographic consequences of damage to persistent rhizomes. </p>
Data from: Context matters: the landscape matrix determines the population genetic structure of temperate forest herbs across Europe
<p>Context. Plant populations in agricultural landscapes are mostly fragmented and their functional connectivity often depends on seed and pollen dispersal by animals. However, little is known about how the interactions of seed and pollen dispersers with the agricultural matrix translate into gene flow among plant populations.</p> <p>Objectives. We aimed to identify effects of the landscape structure on the genetic diversity within, and the genetic differentiation among, spatially isolated populations of three temperate forest herbs. We asked, whether different arable crops have different effects, and whether the orientation of linear landscape elements relative to the gene dispersal direction matters.</p> <p>Methods. We analysed the species' population genetic structures in seven agricultural landscapes across temperate Europe using microsatellite markers. These were modelled as a function of landscape composition and configuration, which we quantified in buffer zones around, and in rectangular landscape strips between, plant populations.</p> <p>Results. Landscape effects were diverse and often contrasting between species, reflecting their association with different pollen- or seed dispersal vectors. Differentiating crop types rather than lumping them together yielded higher proportions of explained variation. Some linear landscape elements had both a channelling and hampering effect on gene flow, depending on their orientation.</p> <p>Conclusions. Landscape structure is a more important determinant of the species' population genetic structure than habitat loss and fragmentation <i>per se</i>. Landscape planning with the aim to enhance the functional connectivity among spatially isolated plant populations should consider that even species of the same ecological guild might show distinct responses to the landscape structure.</p>
Data from: Different taxonomic and functional indices complement the understanding of herb-layer community assembly patterns in a southern-limit temperate forest
<p><span>The efficient conservation of vulnerable ecosystems in the face of global change requires a complete understanding of how plant communities respond to various environmental factors. We aim to demonstrate that a combined use of different approaches, traits, and indices representing each of the taxonomic and functional characteristics of plant communities will give complementary information on the factors driving vegetation assembly patterns. We analyzed variation across an environmental gradient in taxonomic and functional composition, richness, and diversity of the herb-layer of a temperate beech-oak forest that was located in northern Spain. We measured species cover and four functional traits: leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf size, and plant height. We found that light is the most limiting resource influencing herb-layer vegetation. Taxonomic changes in richness are followed by equivalent functional changes in the diversity of leaf size but by opposite responses in the richness of SLA. Each functional index is related to different environmental factors even within a single trait (particularly for LDMC and leaf size). To conclude, each characteristic of a plant community is influenced by different and even contrasting factors or processes. Combining different approaches, traits, and indices simultaneously will help us understand how plant communities work.</span></p>
Data from: Different taxonomic and functional indices complement the understanding of herb-layer community assembly patterns in a southern-limit temperate forest
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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
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Context matters: the landscape matrix determines the population genetic structure of temperate forest herbs across Europe
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Survey of forest herb abundance at 55 sites in the French Broad River watershed, 2009.
We identified 14 native herbaceous species that represented a range of habitat generalists and specialists, and were common to the area. Sampling took place from May – August 2009. We selected sites by generating random points across 5 watersheds in ArcGIS and choosing a subset of 54 sites that were accessible, not recently logged, and not dominated by Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.), or mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia). A 20x20-m plot was established at each site containing 3 transects at 0-m, 10-m, and 20-m, perpendicular to the slope. Using a modified version of the Braun Blanquet (1932) scale, we recorded percent cover for each focal species within 1-m2 quadrats at 6 evenly spaced intervals along each transect (18 quadrats per plot). The entire plot was thoroughly searched and the presence of any focal species not recorded in a quadrat was noted and assigned to the lowest cover class (0-0.1%). Within each quadrat, we also measured percent total herb and shrub cover, and litter depth (an average of 4 measurements). Slope and terrain shape were determined using a clinometer. We extracted elevation and distance to stream for each plot using 30-m digital elevation models (DEMs) in ArcGIS. Distance to stream represents relative slope position and was obtained by calculating flow accumulation and the distance from plots to the nearest point of highest accumulation, using a threshold of 100 pixels. High values indicate positions upslope near ridges and low values indicate positions downslope close to streams or coves. Five soil cores (5 cm diameter, 15 cm depth) were obtained from each plot, composited, sieved (4 mm) and oven-dried. Soils were analyzed for total N, organic matter, P, K+, Ca++, Mg++, and pH by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Soil and Plant Analysis Laboratory using standard methods. Soil texture was determined in the laboratory using the hydrometer method.
Measures of plant performance for 4 species of forest herbs in the French Broad Watershed, 2009-2011
We used empirical measurements collected over three years to compare plant performance indicators for understory herbs across an elevation gradient (used as a proxy for temperature) in old (logged > 100 years ago) and young (20-40 years post-harvest) forested stands in the Southern Appalachians, USA. Specifically, we asked (1) how do stand age and temperature affect performance of four species of forest herbs in natural populations, and (2) do these effects vary across years with different precipitation patterns?
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.
Pollinator data from: Pollinator movement activity influences genetic diversity and differentiation of spatially isolated populations of clonal forest herbs
<p>In agricultural landscapes, forest herbs live in small, spatially isolated forest patches. For their long-term survival, their populations depend on animals as genetic linkers that provide pollen- or seed-mediated gene flow among different forest patches. However, whether insect pollinators serve as genetic linkers among spatially isolated forest herb populations in agricultural landscapes remains to be shown. Here, we used population genetic methods to analyze: (A) the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of populations of two common, slow-colonizing temperate forest herb species (<em>Polygonatum</em> <em>multiflorum</em> (L.) All. and <em>Anemone</em> <em>nemorosa</em> L.) in spatially isolated populations within three agricultural landscapes in Germany and Sweden and (B) the movement activity of their most relevant associated pollinator species, i.e., the bumblebee <em>Bombus</em> <em>pascuorum</em> (Scopoli, 1763) and the hoverfly <em>Melanostoma</em> <em>scalare</em> (Fabricus, 1794), respectively, which differ in their mobility. We tested whether the indicated pollinator movement activity affected the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of the forest herb populations. Bumblebee movement indicators that solely indicated movement activity between the forest patches affected both genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of the associated forest herb <em>P</em>. <em>multiflorum</em> in a way that can be explained by pollen-mediated gene flow among the forest herb populations. In contrast, movement indicators reflecting the total movement activity at a forest patch (including within-forest patch movement activity) showed unexpected effects for both plant-pollinator pairs that might be explained by accelerated genetic drift due to enhanced sexual reproduction. Our integrated approach revealed that bumblebees serve as genetic linkers of associated forest herb populations, even if they are more than 2 km apart from each other. No such evidence was found for the forest-associated hoverfly species which showed significant genetic differentiation among forest patches itself. Our approach also indicated that a higher within-forest patch movement activity of both pollinator species might enhance sexual recruitment and thus diminishes the temporal buffer that clonal growth provides against habitat fragmentation effects.</p>
Data from: Different taxonomic and functional indices complement the understanding of herb-layer community assembly patterns in a southern-limit temperate forest
<p><span>The efficient conservation of vulnerable ecosystems in the face of global change requires a complete understanding of how plant communities respond to various environmental factors. We aim to demonstrate that a combined use of different approaches, traits, and indices representing each of the taxonomic and functional characteristics of plant communities will give complementary information on the factors driving vegetation assembly patterns. We analyzed variation across an environmental gradient in taxonomic and functional composition, richness, and diversity of the herb-layer of a temperate beech-oak forest that was located in northern Spain. We measured species cover and four functional traits: leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf size, and plant height. We found that light is the most limiting resource influencing herb-layer vegetation. Taxonomic changes in richness are followed by equivalent functional changes in the diversity of leaf size but by opposite responses in the richness of SLA. Each functional index is related to different environmental factors even within a single trait (particularly for LDMC and leaf size). To conclude, each characteristic of a plant community is influenced by different and even contrasting factors or processes. Combining different approaches, traits, and indices simultaneously will help us understand how plant communities work.</span></p>
Uncovering the little known impact of a millennia-old traditional use of temperate oak forests: free-ranging domestic pigs markedly change the herb layer, but barely affect the shrub layer
<p>This excel file contains data on ground, herb and shrub layer characteristics of hardwood floodplain forests under different disturbance intensity by free-ranging domestic pigs, a millennia-old practice in Eurasia. We used these dataset to create figures 3, 4, 5, 6 (a) (b), 7, 8 presented in the paper „Uncovering the little known impact of a millennia-old traditional use of temperate oak forests: free-ranging pigs markedly change the herb layer, but barely affect the shrub layer”. Vegetation surveys were conducted in the spring and late summer periods of 2017 and 2018. The bare soil surface and litter cover were visually estimated within each 0.25 ha sampling plot. The cover and composition of the herb layer were recorded using 30 subsamples (1 m2) at each SP (altogether 1680 subsamples). 28 subsamples were located along the four cardinal directions at 2 m distances running from the centre of sampling plots and 2 other subsamples were randomly positioned. The total cover of the upper (higher than 130 cm) and lower (50-130 cm) shrub layer, and the cover of each species by layers, were visually estimated in each 0.25 ha SP. The browsing, rooting and rubbing impacts of pigs were measured along a 56-m-long transect running through the centre of the SPs from north to south. We sampled altogether from 3138 to 3282 woody specimens depending on variables used to describe pigs impacts on specimens.</p>
Immigration credit of temperate forest herbs in fragmented landscapes – implications for restoration of habitat connectivity
<p>1. In many agricultural landscapes, it is important to restore networks of forests to provide habitat and stepping stones for forest specialist taxa. More knowledge is, however, needed on how to facilitate the immigration of such taxa in restored forest patches. Here, we present the first chronosequence study to quantify the dynamics of immigration credits of forest specialist plants in post-arable forest patches.</p> <p>2. We studied the distribution of herbaceous forest specialist plant species in 54 post-arable broadleaved forest patches along gradients of age (20-140 years since forest establishment), distance from ancient forest (0-2600 m) and patch area (0.5-9.6 ha). With Linear Mixed Models we estimated the effects of these factors on species richness, patch means of four dispersal-related plant traits and with Generalized Linear Models on the occurrence of 20 individual species.</p> <p>3. Post-arable forest patch age and spatial isolation from ancient forest, but not patch size, were important predictors for species richness of forest specialists, suggesting that also small patches are valuable for habitat connectivity. Compared to species richness in ancient forest stands, the immigration credit was reduced by more than 90% after 80 years in post-arable forest patches contiguous to ancient forest compared to 40% after 80 years and 60% after 140 years in isolated patches (at least 100 m to next forest). Tall-growing species with adaptations to long-distance dispersal were faster colonizers while species with heavy diaspores and clonal growth were slower to colonize.</p> <p>4. Synthesis and applications: We show that post-arable oak plantations have a high potential for restoration of forest herb vegetation. Dispersal-related plant traits play a key role in explaining interspecific differences among forest specialists. To facilitate forest herb immigration across all functional groups in agricultural landscapes, we suggest to create clusters of relatively small new forest patches nearby older forest with source populations.</p>
Genomic analyses point to a low evolutionary potential of prospective source populations for assisted migration in a forest herb
<p>Climate change is increasingly impacting temperate forest ecosystems and many forest herbs might be unable to track the changing climate due to dispersal limitation. Forest herbs with a low adaptive capacity may therefore benefit from conservation strategies that mitigate dispersal limitation and evolutionary constraints, such as assisted migration. However, assisted migration strategies rarely consider evolutionary constraints of potential source populations that may jeopardize their success. In cases where climate adaptation is overshadowed by competing evolutionary processes, assisted migration is unlikely to support adaptation to future climates. Using a combination of population and landscape genomic analyses, we disentangled local adaptation drivers and quantified the adaptability and vulnerability to climate change of the self-incompatible deciduous forest herb <em>Primula</em> <em>elatior</em>. Southern populations displayed a sharp genetic turnover, and a considerable amount of local adaptation under diversifying selection was discovered. However, most of the outlier loci could not be linked to climate variables (71%) and were likely related to other local adaptation drivers, such as photoperiodism. Furthermore, specific adaptations to climate extremes, such as drought stress, could not be detected. This is in line with the typical occurrence of forest herbs in buffered climatic conditions, which can be expected to reduce selection pressures imposed by climate. Finally, populations in the south of the distribution area had increased sensitivity to climate change due to a reduced adaptive capacity and a moderate genetic offset, while central European populations were sensitive due to a high genetic offset. We conclude that assisted migration from southern source populations could bear significant risk due to nonclimatic maladaptation and a low adaptive capacity. Regional admixture and restoration of ecological connectivity to increase the adaptive capacity, and assisted range expansion to suitable habitat in the north might be more appropriate mitigation strategies.</p>
Genomic analyses point to a low evolutionary potential of prospective source populations for assisted migration in a forest herb
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Pollinator data from: Pollinator movement activity influences genetic diversity and differentiation of spatially isolated populations of clonal forest herbs
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Immigration credit of temperate forest herbs in fragmented landscapes – implications for restoration of habitat connectivity
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Westward range expansion from middle latitudes explains the Mississippi River discontinuity in a forest herb of eastern North America
<p>It is often expected that temperate plants have expanded their geographic ranges northward from primarily southern refugia. Evidence for this hypothesis is mixed in eastern North American species, and there is increasing support for colonization from middle latitudes. We studied genome-wide patterns of variation in RADseq loci to test hypotheses concerning range expansion in a North American forest herb (<i>Campanula americana</i>). First, spatial patterns of genetic differentiation were determined. Then phylogenetic relationships and divergence times were estimated. Spatial signatures of genetic drift were also studied to identify the directionality of recent range expansion and its geographic origins. Finally, spatially explicit scenarios for the spread of plants across the landscape were compared, using variation in the population mutation parameter and Tajima's D. We found strong longitudinal subdivision, with populations clustering into groups west and east of the Mississippi River. While the southeastern region was likely part of a diverse Pleistocene refugium, there is little evidence that range expansion involved founders from these southern locales. Instead, declines in genetic diversity and the loss of rare alleles support a westward colonization wave from a middle latitude refugium near the southern Appalachian Mountains, with subsequent expansion from a Pleistocene staging ground in the Mississippi River Valley (0.51 - 1.27 Mya). These analyses implicate stepping stone colonization from middle latitudes as an important mechanism of species range expansion in eastern North America. This study further demonstrates the utility of population genetics as a tool to infer the routes traveled by organisms during geographic range expansion.</p>
Data from: Are gastropods, rather than ants, important dispersers of seeds of myrmecochorous forest herbs?
Seed dispersal by ants (myrmecochory) is widespread and seed adaptations to myrmecochory are common, especially in the form of fatty appendices (elaiosomes). In a recent study, slugs were identified as seed dispersers of myrmecochores in a Central European beech forest. Here we used 105 beech forest sites to test whether myrmecochore presence and abundance is related to ant or to gastropod abundance and whether experimentally exposed seeds are removed by gastropods. Myrmecochorous plant cover was positively related to gastropod abundance, but negatively to ant abundance. Gastropods were responsible for most seed removal and elaiosome damage, while insects (and rodents) played minor roles. These gastropod effects on seeds were independent of region or forest management. We suggest that terrestrial gastropods can generally act as seed dispersers of myrmecochorous plants or even substitute myrmecochory, especially where ants are absent or uncommon.
Data from: Demographic stimulation of the obligate understorey herb, Panax quinquefolius L., in response to natural forest canopy disturbances
1.Natural and anthropogenic forest canopy disturbances significantly alter forest dynamics and lead to multi-dimensional shifts in the forest understorey. An understorey plant's ability to exploit alterations to the light environment caused by canopy disturbance leads to changes in population dynamics. The purpose of this work was to determine if population growth of a species adapted to low light increases in response to additional light inputs caused by canopy disturbance, or alternatively, declines due to long-term selection under low light conditions. 2.To address this question, we quantified the demographic response of an understorey herb to three contrasting forest canopy disturbances (ice storms, tent caterpillar defoliation and lightning strikes) that encompass a broad range of disturbance severity. We used a model shade-adapted understorey species, Panax quinquefolius, to parameterize stage-based matrix models. Asymptotic growth rates, stochastic growth rates and simulations of transient dynamics were used to quantify the population-level response to canopy disturbance. Life table response experiments were used to partition the underlying controls over differences in population growth rates. 3.Population growth rates at all three disturbed sites increased in the transition period immediately after the canopy disturbance relative to the transition period prior to disturbance. Stochastic population models revealed that growth rates increased significantly in simulations that included disturbance matrices relative to those simulations that excluded disturbance. Additionally, transient models indicated that population size (n) was larger for all three populations when the respective disturbance matrix was included in the model. 4.Synthesis Obligate shade species are most likely to be pre-adapted to take advantage of canopy gaps and light influx to a degree, and this pre-adaptation may be due to long-term selection under dynamic old growth forest canopies. We propose a model whereby population performance is represented by a parabolic curve where performance is maximized under intermediate levels of canopy disturbance. This study provides new evidence to aid our understanding of the population-level response of understorey herbs to disturbances whose frequency and intensity are predicted to increase as global climates continue to shift.
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