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126 results for “forest understory”
Understory Vegetation in Hemlock Removal Experiment at Harvard Forest since 2003
Hemlock decline in New England is caused by direct and indirect effects of invasion of the hemlock woolly adelgid. Direct damage from the insect is causing gradual mortality of hemlock, and widespread harvesting of hemlock in advance of mortality, in contrast, causes immediate mortality and removal of biomass from the site. Although both processes affect thousands of acres of forest annually we have only a limited understanding of their effects on forest ecosystem function and productivity and the nature of the subsequent forest community. We anticipate that harvesting will yield different consequences than gradual mortality from the insect. Therefore we designed an experiment to simulate these contrasting impacts, by logging or girdling hemlock stands. Results from the experimental treatments are compared to the changes observed in forests that are being infested by the adelgid, and can also be included in integrated analyses of a suite of large experiments that form a core component of the Harvard Forest LTER program.
Understory Removal Experiment at Harvard Forest 1956-2018
In 1956, Ernie Gould and colleagues established an experiment to test whether removing understory trees will accelerate the growth of the residual overstory. The motivation for the experiment was the suggestion that the understory uses growth materials that would otherwise be available for the main canopy crop trees, and that if the understory were removed the development of the crop trees would be accelerated. In Tom Swamp Compartment I, a 300’ by 400’ rectangular plot was established in a closed-canopy hardwood forest, and every tree >2 inches dbh was mapped, measured and assigned to the overstory or understory. In half of the plot, all understory trees and woody shrubs were cut. Wood and brush were removed from the study area. Sprouts that emerged were killed by spraying with 2-4-5-T and kerosene in 1956 and 1958. Diameter growth measurements of the remaining trees (overstory in the treated area; overstory and understory in the control) were repeated in 1960, 1966, 1969, and 1975 as part of the original experiment. The control portion of the plot was measured in 2003 and 2018. This data set contains tree measurements from the control portion of the site for 1956, 1969, 1975, 2003, and 2018. Additional measurements are available on paper data sheets in the Harvard Forest Document Archives (Research File HF 1956-03). Results of the understory removal experiment are reported in Kelty and Gould (1987).
Hemlock Understory Vegetation Plots at Harvard Forest since 2002
Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forests in New England are changing rapidly with the invasion of the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA, Adelges tsugae), a non-native insect pest that kills hemlock trees. As the adelgid invades hemlock stands at Harvard Forest, we are monitoring how forest structure and function changes. We surveyed community vegetation structure and composition prior to adelgid infestation, and are repeating this survey as infestation progresses. These measurements will allow us to link the long-term history of these hemlock stands to other current studies of hemlock response to adelgid infestation.
Mangrove Coast Collaborative Project, Post-hurricane Irma mangrove forest understory data, Rookery Bay NERR, February 2022 - March 2023
This dataset describes the structure and composition of the mangrove forest understory in Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) assessed Feb 2022 - Mar 2023, approximately 5 years post Hurricane Irma (2017) and concurrent with Hurricane Ian (2022). The dataset includes information on the number of seedlings and saplings of each species as sampled in four 1 m2 quadrats in each 100 m2 structural sampling plot. The dataset also includes counts of the five tallest pneumatophores occurring in each quadrat. The height of pneumatophores was used as a proxy for the average maximum high water level in a plot. This dataset is associated with the Mangrove Coast Collaborative project (2020 - 2024).
Mangrove Coast Collaborative Project, Post-hurricane Maria mangrove forest understory data, Jobos Bay NERR, March 2022 - August 2022
This dataset describes the structure and composition of the mangrove forest understory in Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) assessed approximately 5 years after disturbance from Hurricane Maria (2017). The dataset includes information on the number of seedlings and saplings of each species as sampled in four 1 m2 quadrats in each 100 m2 structural sampling plot. The dataset also includes counts of the five tallest pneumatophores occurring in each quadrat. The height of pneumatophores was used as a proxy for the average maximum high water level in a plot. This dataset is associated with the Mangrove Coast Collaborative project (2020 - 2024).
Fern Understory as an Ecological Filter at Harvard Forest 1993-1995
We investigated the role of the fern understory as an ecological filter that influences the organization of the tree seedling bank in New England deciduous forests. The data files below summarize a series of field experiments conducted from 1993 to 1995 evaluating the response of seed germination and seedling growth and survival to experimental understory manipulation. These field studies involved three experimental manipulations of the fern understory: 1) removal of ferns 2) ferns tied back (to remove above-ground shading) 3) ferns left intact (control). These manipulations were established in 180 - 1m2 plots spanning six field sites and 2 different fern species (3 understory manipulations x 2 understory fern species x 6 sites x 5 replicates/site = 180 experimental plots).
Baltimore forest patch point-sample overstory and understory vegetation, 2018-2020
Urban forest patches, including woodland interiors and bounding edge habitat, result from secondary succession and fragmentation of more extensive forested landscapes in the eastern USA. Management regimes, surrounding land use, and successional processes lead to distinct environments and contribute to local and regional heterogeneity. However, many woodlands are degraded due to frequent disturbance, aggressive exotic species, and heavy browsing, which stress canopies, reduce regeneration, and may reduce ecosystem services. Effective management requires rapid, repeatable assessment of forest composition, structure, and condition at the scale of local decision-making. We present and apply a protocol for characterizing urban woodlands that generates new insight into the status of urban woodlands and baseline data for change detection over time. Samples of overstory composition, ground cover, surface soil measurements, and the Schumacher Vine Encroachment Index were collected at 845 points across each of 47 patches across Baltimore, Maryland. Simple citywide summaries allowed characterization of Baltimore’s urban overstories as overwhelmingly native, though dominated by a range of successional conditions. By contrast, we found that ground layers were predominantly exotic, with abundant invasives or ruderal native species benefitting from disturbed conditions. Seven overstory types were distinguished, the majority under threat from aggressive vines. Most soils showed little evidence of compaction, but variable organic content. Distributed data allowed crosspatch comparison as well as within-patch analyses along edge-to-interior gradients. Species diversity, nativity, and overstory basal area all increased towards woodland interiors, whereas soil compaction and vine encroachment decreased. Structural and compositional shifts in both overstory and ground layer species revealed indicators of edge (15.2-18.7 m) and interior (> 41.5 m) conditions, as well as evidence of tran
Understory plant community data from repeated plot sampling (1978-2019) in old-growth northern hardwood forest, northern Michigan (Dukes RNA, Hiawatha National Forest)
This data-set includes long-term, permanent-plot-based data for understory plant communities in old-growth mixed northern hardwood-hemlock forest and forested peatland in the Upper Great Lakes region. Data for over 900 understory quadrats (all associated with long-term canopy data from larger permanent plots) included multiple (2-5) remeasurements over 23-40 years, with longest periods and most remeasurements for upland forest types. The Dukes Research Natural Area (RNA) (https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/nrs/rnas/locations/dukes) in the Hiawatha National Forest (Marquette Co., MI) includes ca. 100 ha of largely unlogged, original forest. Publications cited below include more detailed information about the site. About half of the RNA supports upland forests intergrading from hemlock (Tsuga candensis) dominance to mixtures of hemlock and northern hardwoods species. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is dominant over much of the upland area, with, locally, significant admixtures of beech (Fagus grandifolia), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), and red maple (Acer rubrum). Topographic relief is very slight with total elevational change within the RNA only about 10 m. The stand is within a few km of the western limit of the continuous range of beech. In 1935, 248 continuing forest inventory (CFI) plots (circular, 0.2 acre) were established on a regular grid throughout the RNA, and these have been the subject of repeated sampling through 2018-2019 and support continuing long-term study addressing canopy tree communities (canopy data to be deposited in a separate project). Examples of resulting publications are cited elsewhere in metadata, and can provide more detailed information about the RNA. In 1978-80, U.S. Forest Service researchers, directed by Jan Schultz and Frederick Metzger, initiated studies of understory communities, including herbaceous species and woody seedlings. Data were derived from four sub-quadrats within each of the CFI plots. These quadrats were re-estab
Understory percent cover, plant traits, canopy LAI, PAR, temperature, and soil moisture data at multiple time points for sites in the burn chronosequence and Indian Point forest at the University of Michigan Biological Station, Pellston, MI (2022-2023)
Community ecology has sought to understand the mechanisms by which plant communities are assembled through time and space. One prominent way to address how communities are assembled is by quantifying functional traits. While there is a tremendous body of literature on functional traits, debate persists about how to account for variation in measured traits. For example, intraspecific trait variation (ITV) can be equal to or greater than interspecific trait variation and ITV has also been found to vary greatly across years. Therefore, there is a need to account for variability in functional trait measures among and within species and through time to improve our understanding of community assembly. Chronosequences are a powerful tool to address temporal changes in community dynamics, however, the inclusion of understory plants in forest chronosequence studies is still relatively uncommon. Previous chronosequence studies have been primarily performed in grasslands or in a limited subset of forest types, so further work is needed in understory plant traits across other ecosystems and climates to improve trait-based understanding of understory plant communities through time. Additionally, because plant traits change as ecosystems age, community interactions are likely to change with ecosystem age. Interactions of particular interest are herbivory, arthropod predation, and the influence of plant traits on arthropod diversity.
Experimental Understory Food Web data in the El Verde area of the Luquillo Experimental Forest
These data include date, treatment, block number, number of coquies, number of anoles, number of insects collected on two sticky traps, number of insects counted on 4 Piper glabrescens and 4 Manilkara bidentata seedlings, percent herbivory on the aforementioned plants and number of spiders. All these measurements were taken within exclosures for closed controls, anole exclusions, coqui exclusions and total exclusions. Open controls were sampled from an area of similar dimension not enclosed in an exclosure. Support for this work was provided by grants BSR-8811902, DEB-9411973, DEB-9705814 , DEB-0080538, DEB-0218039 , DEB-0620910 , DEB-1239764, DEB-1546686, and DEB-1831952 from the National Science Foundation to the University of Puerto Rico as part of the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Additional support provided by the University of Puerto Rico and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service.
Riparian and upland understory vegetation lifeforms and leaf-litterfall ordination analyses in the Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot
Riparian areas are proportionally a small component of the forested landscape, they are significant contributors to ecosystem process, terrestrial and aquatic linkages, plant community composition, as well to basal energy resources for aquatic fauna. We describe vegetation and leaf-litterfall composition in relation to past land use in riparian and upland locations in tropical wet forest, Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP), Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Data collected from 2003 to 2005. Stratified sampling was conducted in riparian and upland areas of LFDP with high and low past land use. Understory vegetation life-form composition were sampled in plots. \<para\> Support for this work was provided by grants BSR-8811902, DEB-9411973, DEB-9705814 , DEB-0080538, DEB-0218039 , DEB-0620910 , DEB-1239764, DEB-1546686, and DEB-1831952 from the National Science Foundation to the University of Puerto Rico as part of the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program. Additional support provided by the University of Puerto Rico and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service.\</para\>
dataset: Responses of the structure and function of the understory plant communities to precipitation reduction across forest ecosystems in Germany
<p><strong>Context</strong>: Understory plant communities play a central role in forest biogeochemistry and the recruitment of trees making up the future forest. It is so far poorly understood how climate change will affect understory structure and functions in forest of different management intensity.</p> <p> </p><p><strong>Aims</strong>: We monitored understory functional traits including transpiration and carbon isotope discrimination, community structure and diversity during two growing seasons as affected by drought in forests subjected to different management intensities. We hypothesized that drought would affect ecophysiological traits such as transpiration but not species richness and diversity. Moreover, we assumed that stand-specific characteristics and forest management intensity modify the drought-resistance of the understory community.</p> <p></p> <p><strong>Methods</strong>: We set up roofs in beech and conifer stands with different management intensity in three different regions across Germany and a drought event close to the 2003 drought was imposed in two consecutive years.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: Precipitation reduction decreased soil water content by 2 to 8%, depending on stand and region, in comparison to the control subplots. In the first year, leaf level transpiration was reduced for different functional groups, which scaled to community transpiration modified by additional effects of drought on functional group specific leaf area. Acclimation effects in most functional groups were observed in the second year. We did not observe a significant reduction of plant diversity or a consistent management effect upon drought.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion</strong>: Our results indicate high plasticity and acclimation responses of the forest understory vegetation to changing climate conditions and recurrent drought events.</p> <p><strong>Abbreviations:</strong></p> <p>sp12 - campaign spring 2012; ls12 - campaign late summer 2012; es13 - campaign early summer 2013; ls13-campaign late summer 2013</p> <p>SEW16 - Schorfheide plot 16; SEW49 - Schorfheide plot 49; SEW48 - Schorfheide plot 48;HEW03 - Hainich plot 03; HEW12 - Hainich plot 12; HEW47- Hainich plot 47; AEW13 - Alb plot 13; AEW29 - Alb plot 29; AEW08 - Alb plot 08<br> explo - exploratory<br> SEW - Schorfheide; HEW - Hainich; AEW - Schwäbische Alb<br> in - conifer intensive managed; ma - beech managed; un - beech unmanaged<br> c- control; r - roof<br> LAIs - community leaf area index m<sup>2</sup>/m<sup>2</sup>; H - Shannon´s diversity index; Ts - community transpiration rate (weighted by LAI) mmol H<sub>2</sub>O m-<sup>2</sup> leaf area s-<sup>1</sup>; Ets - Evapotranspiration (mmol/m2/sec); E - Evaporation (mmol/m2/sec); C - leaf photosynthetic carbon isotope discrimination (∆<sup>13</sup>C) according to Farquhar et al. (1982); Cs - community photosynthetic carbon isotope discrimination (∆<sup>13</sup>C) according to Farquhar et al. (1982) (weighted by LAI)</p> <p> </p>
Peeking under the canopy: anomalously short fire-return intervals alter subalpine forest understory plant communities
Changing climate and fire regimes are profoundly affecting temperate coniferous forests, driving greatly reduced tree cover postfire. However, whether similar changes are present in the understory of these forests remains less well-understood. We sampled understory plant communities in 20 plot pairs across Greater Yellowstone (Wyoming, USA) in July and August 2021, with each including one plot burned at short (<30 year) fire-return interval and one plot burned in the same most recent fire but not burned previously for >125 years. We also included 11 plot pairs meeting our definition of short- and long-interval fire that were sampled 12 years after the 1988 Yellowstone fires in summer 2000. We also used previously collected published and unpublished data to compare understory communities following recent (2016) short-interval fires to those following the previous long-interval fire in the same general area. In each plot, percent cover of understory plant species was estimated in 0.25-m2 quadrats, and species richness determined via a whole-plot sweep. Understory plant community cover, richness, and diversity did not differ by interval class, but species able to persist in drier conditions and in lower vegetation zones became more abundant following shot interval fire. Further, previously distinct understory communities following long-interval fire in two regions of Greater Yellowstone became slightly more similar following recent short-interval fire. Dissimilarity between plot pairs increased with greater historical snowfall and decreased with time since fire and postfire winter snowfall. These changes to understory plant communities may continue with ongoing shifts in climate and fire across temperate and boreal forests.
Variation in the Composition of Understory Vegetation in a Tropical Rain Forest as a Function of Soil and Topographic Position. 1986 - 1990
Understory plants are a major contribution to the high plant species diversity of Neotropical rain forests. Shrubs, understory trees, saplings of overstory trees, and herbs occupy a habitat of generally low light levels and high humidity in which there seem to be few obvious mechanisms to support habitat partitioning. Moreover several plant families are characterized by a high number of co-occurring understory species. In 1987-1989 we sampled understory vegetation in 18 sites at the La Selva Biological Station of the Organization for Tropical Studies in Heredia Province, Costa Rica. At each site we used 20 nested quadrats to investigate the effects of soil type on replicated sites of mapped alluvial and residual volcanic soils (5 map units) and topographic positions (ridges, midslopes and flats) on composition, density and diversity of small (1m tall to 5cm dbh, 25 m2 quadrat) and large(5-10cm dbh, 100 m2 quadrat) understory plants. We also measured fine litter dry mass, extractable P, total organic matter, percent slope and percent incident light radiation in each quadrat.
Dataset on light measuments in the understory of a Tropical forest restoration submitted to four thinning intensities through chemical management
<p>The lack of information on the management of light in tropical forests causes a technical constraint for timber production in restoration sites, especially given the light restrictions for timber production. This issue could be amended with the development of methods to easily manage and estimate light availability, targeting practices that balance restoration success and productivity. We conducted the study that gathered this data in an area within the Atlantic Forest, Brazil, where we tested the efficiency of chemical thinning fast-growing species to increase light availability in the understory of a five-year-old restoration planting. Our goal was to increase the growth rates of desirable timber species in the understory of the restoration site. <br>Moreover, we tested the viability of using hemispherical photography taken with a smartphone to assess light incidence and assist restoration management practices. We calculated the percentage of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) using a ceptometer in four different thinning intensities and compared them to the smartphone measures using correlation analysis and generalized mixed models. Chemical thinning increased light incidence in the understory Light management through PAR and canopy opening were highly correlated overall, especially after three months of management and above 60% of the basal area thinned. Data demonstrates the potential of chemical thinning as a management practice to enhance light availability in the understory of tropical forest restoration sites and highlights the value of using smartphones and fisheye clips for the indirect assessment of light conditions. </p>
Feral pig (Sus scrofa) disturbance facilitates establishment of resource-acquisitive species in Hawaiian forest understories
<p>In this study, we quantify the effects of leaf traits and dispersal attributes on species responses to pig soil disturbance at two spatial scales – 0.5 m<sup>2</sup> patches embedded along 20 m transects within sites – across a gradient of pig density in a Hawaiian montane wet forest using Bayesian mixed models. </p> <p>Native and non-native species demonstrated divergent responses, with increasing presence and abundance of non-native species in the understory as soil disturbance within patches and sites increased. Dominant patterns in measured traits tracked the leaf economic spectrum (LES), with non-native species tending toward resource-acquisitive traits. Species with resource-acquisitive traits, regardless of identity, were favored with disturbance and responded positively to light availability in disturbed sites. Models showed species primarily dispersed by wind were more prevalent in disturbed patches and sites than those dispersed by endozoochory, while seed mass had no effect.</p>
Data set for "Drought response of the boreal forest carbon sink is driven by understory-tree composition"
<p>This data set is a compilation of 1) environmental conditions, 2) biometric- and chamber-based annual CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes, 3) vegetation phenological greenness, and 4) forest-floor environmental conditions, all measured over the Krycklan Catchment Study (KCS, <a href="https://www.slu.se/Krycklan">https://www.slu.se/Krycklan</a>), a multi-scale long-term monitored boreal catchment spanning 68 km<sup>2</sup> in northern Sweden.</p> <p>The environmental measurements cover the period 1991–2020. Specifically, meteorological conditions measured close to the central part of the KCS at the Svartberget reference climate station (64°14′N, 19°46′E, 225 m.a.s.l.) included air temperature at 1.7 m above ground (Ta, °C), global radiation at 1.7 m above ground (Rg, MJ m<sup>-2</sup>), and precipitation (P, mm). Drought conditions were characterized by the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) computed at 3-month time scale. SPEI was retrieved from the 0.5° gridded dataset supplied in the Global SPEI Database (SPEIbase v2.8, <a href="https://spei.csic.es/database.html">https://spei.csic.es/database.html</a>). The data set comprises monthly values obtained during the long-term reference period 1991–2020 (LT<sub>91–20</sub>), the baseline period 2016–2017 (BL<sub>16–17</sub>), and the drought year 2018 (D<sub>18</sub>). The standardized anomaly (ɀ-score) was used to identify extreme environmental measurements during both the BL<sub>16–17 </sub>and D<sub>18</sub> periods relative to the LT<sub>91–20 </sub>period.</p> <p>Annual CO<sub>2</sub> flux estimates were collected in 50 forest stands located across the KCS during the period 2016–2018 using biometric- and chamber-based methods. However, to prevent confounding effects, one forest stand that was subjected to thinning operations in spring 2018 was excluded from the analysis. The selected forest stands encompassed different landscape attributes such as 1) soil type (i.e., sediment and till), 2) dominant tree species (i.e., pine and spruce), and 3) stand age classes (i.e., initiation, young, middle-aged, mature, and old-growth stands). The annual CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes included the net ecosystem production (NEP) and its component fluxes, i.e., net primary production (NPP), total heterotrophic respiration (RH), net primary production of trees (NPP<sub>t</sub>) and its above- and belowground components (ANPP<sub>t</sub> and BNPP<sub>t</sub>, respectively), and net primary production of understory (NPP<sub>u</sub>) and its above- and belowground components (ANPP<sub>u</sub> and BNPP<sub>u</sub>, respectively). The impact of drought on annual CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes was evaluated by calculating both the absolute and relative anomalies (∆X and δX, respectively) of D<sub>18</sub> relative to BL<sub>16–17</sub>. To identify the temporal shift of the dominant contributor to ∆NEP, a moving-window correlation was conducted between the absolute anomaly of NEP (∆NEP) and the absolute anomalies of understory and tree NPP (∆NPP<sub>u</sub> and ∆NPP<sub>t</sub>, respectively), using a 7-forest-stand window with 1-forest-stand step.</p> <p>The study assessed the phenological greenness of the understory and trees in a ⁓110 years-old mixed-species forest stand in the central part of the KCS from 2016 to 2018. The greenness index (gcc) was derived from hourly images collected through digital repeat photography at the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) Svartberget ecosystem station (SE-Svb, 64°15′N, 19°46′E, 270 m.a.s.l., <a href="https://www.icos-sweden.se/svartberget">https://www.icos-sweden.se/svartberget</a>). Web cameras were used to capture images below- and above-tree canopy to define the gcc index for understory (gcc<sub>u</sub>) and trees (gcc<sub>t</sub>), respectively. The gcc<sub>u</sub> and gcc<sub>t</sub> values were then normalized (0–1) to describe the seasonal minimum and maximum of vegetation biomass development. A locally estimated scatterplot smoothing (loess) curve fit was then used through the normalized data points to improve visualization. The impact of drought on mean estimates of gcc<sub>u</sub> and gcc<sub>t</sub> during the growing season was evaluated by calculating the absolute and relative anomalies (∆X and δX, respectively) of D<sub>18</sub> relative to BL<sub>16–17</sub>.</p> <p>Environmental conditions at the forest-floor interface were measured in each of the 50 forest stands located across the KCS during the period 2016–2018. As before, one forest stand that was subjected to thinning operations in spring 2018 was excluded from the analysis to prevent confounding effects. The measured conditions included the below-canopy air temperature (Ta<sub>bc</sub>, °C), soil temperature at 10 cm depth (Ts, °C), and soil volumetric water content at 5 cm depth (SWC, %). The data set includes mean monthly and mean May-August values estimated during the BL<sub>16–17</sub> and D<sub>18</sub> periods, for which the absolute and relative anomalies (∆X and δX, respectively) were calculated.</p> <p>This data set consists of four Microsoft Excel workbooks:</p> <p>1_dataset_environmental_conditions.xlxs</p> <p>2_dataset_biometric_&_chamber-based_CO2_fluxes.xlxs</p> <p>3_dataset_vegetation_phenological_greenness.xlxs</p> <p>4_dataset_forest-floor_environmental_conditions.xlxs</p> <p>Further details can be found in Martínez-García et al. “Drought response of the boreal forest carbon sink is driven by understory-tree composition” (Nature Geoscience, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01374-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01374-9</a>).</p> <p>Contact information:</p> <p>Ph.D. Eduardo Martínez García<sup>1,2</sup> (<a href="mailto:eduardo.martinez@slu.se">eduardo.martinez@slu.se</a>, <a href="eduardo.martinezgarcia@luke.fi">eduardo.martinezgarcia@luke.fi</a>, <a href="mailto:edu.martinez.garcia@gmail.com">edu.martinez.garcia@gmail.com</a>)</p> <p>Professor Matthias Peichl<sup>1</sup> (<a href="mailto:matthias.peichl@slu.se">matthias.peichl@slu.se</a>)</p> <p><sup>1</sup> Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Skogsmarksgränd 17, SE-901 83, Umeå, Sweden</p> <p><sup>2</sup> Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartanonkaari 9, FI-00790, Helsinki, Finland</p>
Elevation differently shapes functional diversity patterns in understory forest communities when considering intraspecific and interspecific trait variability
<p>Datasets used for the analysis done for the paper "Elevation differently shapes functional diversity patterns in understory forest communities when considering intraspecific and interspecific trait variability".</p> <p>Files present are:</p> <p>-Species x Plot (vegetation releveés).</p> <p>-Plot x Environment.</p> <p>-Plot x CWM_inter for Plant height, Leaf area, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) using the traits fixed for species, i.e., holding traits constant as the species mean, thus incorporating only turnover.</p> <p>-Plot x CWM_intra for Plant height, Leaf area, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) based on an individual by trait matrix, therefore incorporating both turnover and intraspecific trait variation.</p> <p>-Plot x SES-FD_inter (Standard Effect Size Functional Diversity) for Plant height, Leaf area, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) using the traits fixed for species, i.e., holding traits constant as the species mean, thus incorporating only turnover.</p> <p>-Plot x SES-FD_intra (Standard Effect Size Functional Diversity) for Plant height, Leaf area, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) based on an individual by trait matrix, therefore incorporating both turnover and intraspecific trait variation.</p> <p>All analysis were carried out using the software R version 4.1.2 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, <a href="http://www.R-project.org">http://www.R-project.org</a>) and can be consulted on GitHub https://github.com/AriannaFerrara/Elevation-and-Intraspecific-trait-variability.git</p>
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>
Silvicultural regime shapes understory functional structure in European forests
<p>This is the dataset used for the article "Silvicultural regime shapes understory functional structure in European forests" by Francesco Chianucci, Francesca Napoleone et al., which has been accepted in Journal of Applied Ecology.</p> <p>Attached is also an R code to illustrate the statistical analyses performed in the study.</p>
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