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opencc-zeroDec 2020View details →

Data from: Species abundance fluctuations over 31 years are associated with plant-soil feedback in a species-rich mountain meadow

1. Increasing evidence suggest that plant-soil interactions play an essential role in plant community assembly processes. Empirical investigations show that plant species abundance in the field is often related to plant-soil biota interactions, however, the direction of these relations have yielded inconsistent results. 2. We combined unique 31-year long field data on species abundances from a species-rich mountain meadow with single time point plant-soil feedback greenhouse experiments of 24 co-occurring plant species. We tested whether these relations were dynamic in time, whether coupled increases and decreases in abundance between years were related to plant-soil feedback and whether these changes were underlain by years in which manuring was applied. 3. The prevailingly negative relationship between plant-soil feedback and plant relative abundance in the field was significantly time-dependent, which may reconcile the contrasting results in literature. Furthermore, significant coupled oscillations appeared between species relative abundance changes and plant-soil feedback, which were likely moderated by years in which manuring was applied. Our results are consistent with the notion that the more abundant species are stabilised by negative plant-soil feedback, and the less abundant species co-vary with the fluctuations of these more competitive species. 4. Synthesis: Our results project plant-soil feedback as an important regulatory mechanism in plant communities, operating in conjunction with a species' competitive ability and soil nutrient availability. We suggest that negative feedback is particularly prominent in more abundant plant species that profit from more readily available soil nutrients than less abundant species with positive feedback. Negative plant-soil feedback may thus prevent more abundant plant species from outcompeting less abundant plant species, facilitating stable species co-existence.

Figure 5 in Gall-inducing arthropods in a Neotropical savanna area in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil): effects of plant species richness and super-host abundance

Figure 5. Gall morphotypes in host plants in an area of Neotropical savanna in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil). (A-B) Vochysiaceae = Qualea grandiflora, (C-D) Vochysiaceae = Qualea parviflora. of gall morphotypes per host plant species was 1.37. species was significantly influenced both by plant spe- Gall-inducing arthropods belonged to Acari, Diptera, cies richness (p = 0.011) and abundance of super-host Hemiptera and Lepidoptera. The most important gall-in- plants (p = 0.020) (Table 2). We found that galling speducing arthropods were Cecidomyiidae (Diptera) having cies per plant species was negatively affected by plant induced 34 (85.0%) gall morphotypes. In the sequence species richness (Fig. 6) and positively affected by abunwere Eriophyidae (Acari) inducing three (7.5%) mor- dance of super-host plants (Fig. 7). photypes, Psylloidea (Hemiptera) inducing two (5.0%) morphotypes, and Lepidoptera inducing a single (2.5%) morphotype. DISCUSSION The plant families that showed the greatest richness of arthropod galls were Fabaceae, with 16 (40.0%) mor- The number of galling species observed in the area photypes, Vochysiaceae with four (10.0%) and Myrtaceae of EPA of Rio Pandeiros (40 morphotypes) is intermediary (7.5%) with three morphotypes (Table 1). The plant spe- compared to other studies performed in Neotropical sacies Copaifera oblongifolia and Andira humilis Mart. ex vannas (Table 3). Forexample, Urso-Guimarãesetal. (2003) Benth. (Fabaceae) were the most important host spe- recorded only 22 gall morphotypes in cerrado fragments, cies with five and three morphotypes, respectively. All rupestrian field and gallery forest in Delfinópolis, Minas other host plant species had two or one morphotypes Gerais State. In other study, Maia & Fernandes (2004) re- (Table 1). Most of the arthropod galls occurred on leaves corded 137 morphotypes of insect galls in an area of rup- (90.0%), and was lenticular (45.0%), green (52.5%) and estrian fields and cerrado in the Serra de São José, Minas glabrous (82.5%). Gerais. These numbers extremely variable in the diversi- Galling species richness was not affected by none of ty of galling species can be explained by several factors, explanatory variables (Table 2), despite the tendency of among which are different sampling efforts employed in a positive effect of abundance of super-hosts on the gall the studies, as well as variations in the structural characrichness (p = 0.057). Already the galling species per plant teristics and diversity of the studied vegetation. The stan-

Figure 4 in Gall-inducing arthropods in a Neotropical savanna area in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil): effects of plant species richness and super-host abundance

Figure 4. Gall morphotypes in host plants in an area of Neotropical savanna in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil). (A) Fabaceae = Tachigali alba, (B) Malpighiaceae = Malpighiaceae sp., (C) Malvaceae = Eriotheca gracilipes, (D) Myrtaceae = Eugenia dysenterica, (E) Myrtaceae = Eugenia sp., (F) Myrtaceae = Psidium sp., (G) Ochnaceae = Ouratea hexasperma, (H) Ochnaceae = Ouratea spectabilis.

Figure 3 in Gall-inducing arthropods in a Neotropical savanna area in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil): effects of plant species richness and super-host abundance

Figure 3. Gall morphotypes in host plants in an area of Neotropical savanna in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil). (A-D) Fabaceae = Copaifera oblongifolia, (E) Fabaceae = Hymenaea stigonocarpa, (F-G) Fabaceae = Machaerium opacum, (H) Fabaceae = Sclerolobium denudatum.

Figure 2 in Gall-inducing arthropods in a Neotropical savanna area in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil): effects of plant species richness and super-host abundance

Figure 2. Gall morphotypes in host plants in an area of Neotropical savanna in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil). (A) Dilleniaceae = Davilla elliptica, (B) Ebenaceae = Diospyros hispida, (C) Erythroxylaceae = Erythroxylum suberosum, (D-F) Fabaceae = Andira humilis, (G) Fabaceae = Copaifera luetzelburgii, (H) Fabaceae = Copaifera oblongifolia.

Figure 1 in Gall-inducing arthropods in a Neotropical savanna area in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil): effects of plant species richness and super-host abundance

Figure 1. Gall morphotypes in host plants in an area of Neotropical savanna in the EPA of Rio Pandeiros (Bonito de Minas, MG, Brazil). (A) Anacardiaceae =Anacardium humile, (B) Bignoniaceae = Handroanthus ochraceus, (C) Calophyllaceae = Kielmeyera speciosa, (D) Caryocaraceae = Caryocar brasiliense, (E) Combretaceae = Terminalia fagifolia, (F-G) Connaraceae = Connarus suberosus, (H) Dilleniaceae = Davilla elliptica.

opencc-zeroNov 2023View details →

Plant species composition and key-species abundance drive ecosystem multifunctionality

Global biodiversity loss has aroused great concern about the role of plant communities in driving ecosystem functions. However, there is limited understanding of how soil property, plant richness, and composition interact to affect ecosystem multifunctionality. We conducted a constructed-ecosystem experiment by simultaneously manipulating soil origin (i.e., fertile farmland soil and infertile bare land soil), plant richness (from one to four species) and composition (five single species, and all possible two-, three-, and four- species combinations of the five species) to evaluate their importance for driving multiple ecosystem functions related to accumulation of biomass, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in plants, greenhouse gas emissions, soil nutrients, soil N fixation, and mineralization of N and phosphorus (P).

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2024View details →

Abundance of Oxythyrea sp. and Tropinota sp. Flower Chafer Beetles on Various Plant Species in Northern Mallorca

The relevant study investigated the habitat preferences of beetles belonging to the Oxythyrea and Tropinota genera in Northern Mallorca, with a particular focus on flowering species as host plants. A total of 838 observational results were collected throughout field surveys. Key findings indicated that Oxythyrea sp. and Tropinota sp. beetles predominantly inhabited areas with dense populations of flowering Galactites sp. and Asphodelus sp. plants in this region.

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →

The effect of niche filtering on plant species abundance in temperate grassland communities

1. Niche filtering predicts that abundant species in communities have similar traits that are suitable for the environment. However, niche filtering can operate on distinct axes of trait variation in response to different ecological conditions. Here, we use a trait-based approach to infer niche filtering processes and (1) test if abundant and rare species in grassland communities are differently positioned along distinct axes of trait variation, (2) determine if these trait variation axes, as well as phylogenetic and functional similarities, drive species relative abundance (aboveground cover) within communities, and (3) explore if these relationships vary across grassland types and macro-climatic gradients. 2. We analysed species abundance in a set of ~2,000 vegetation plots from temperate grasslands in Central Europe as a function of species position along three axes of trait variation: the 'Plant Size Spectrum' (PSS), the 'Leaf Economics Spectrum' (LES), and the 'Lifespan/Clonality Spectrum' (LCS). We also used phylogenetic and functional similarities in the multi-dimensional trait space as predictors of species abundance. We compared our results among alpine, wet, mesic, and dry grasslands and tested if the effect of the predictors on species abundance was significant across macro-climatic gradients. 3. Compared to abundant species, rare species in grassland communities were more commonly annual and non-clonal, had lower stature and smaller leaves and seeds, and relied on more acquisitive leaf economics. Our predictors significantly explained species abundance in approximately one-third of the plots. LES was the most important predictor across all plots, with the most prominent effect in alpine and dry grasslands and areas with more extreme temperatures. In contrast, in mesic and wet grasslands and grasslands located in warmer and less seasonal regions, species abundance was best predicted by phylogenetic similarities between species, with Poaceae species becoming more abundant. 4. Our study explored trait-abundance relationships for different community types across a large area and broad macro-climatic gradients. We conclude that niche filtering, and particularly resource-acquisition trade-offs, drives species abundance in temperate grassland communities of Central Europe. Our findings emphasize the interaction between local environmental conditions and plant function in determining community assembly.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Plant community responses to long-term fertilization: changes in functional group abundance drive changes in species richness

Declines in species richness due to fertilization are typically rapid and associated with increases in aboveground production. However, in a long-term experiment examining the impacts of fertilization in an early successional community, we found it took 14 years for plant species richness to significantly decline in fertilized plots, despite fertilization causing a rapid increase in aboveground production. To determine what accounted for this lag in the species richness response, we examined several potential mechanisms. We found evidence suggesting the abundance of one functional group—tall species with long-distance (runner) clonality—drove changes in species richness, and we found little support for other mechanisms. Tall runner species initially increased in abundance due to fertilization, then declined dramatically and were not abundant again until later in the experiment, when species richness and the combined biomass of all other functional groups (non-tall runner) declined. Over 86 % of the species found throughout the course of our study are non-tall runner, and there is a strong negative relationship between non-tall runner and tall runner biomass. We therefore suggest that declines in species richness in the fertilized treatment are due to high tall runner abundance that decreases the abundance and richness of non-tall runner species. By identifying the functional group that drives declines in richness due to fertilization, our results help to elucidate how fertilization decreases plant richness and also suggest that declines in richness due to fertilization can be lessened by controlling the abundance of species with a tall runner growth form.

opencc-zeroMar 2020View details →

Data from: Global warming will affect the maximum potential abundance of boreal plant species

Forecasting the impact of future global warming on biodiversity requires understanding how temperature limits the distribution of species. Here we rely on Liebig's Law of Minimum to estimate the effect of temperature on the maximum potential abundance that a species can attain at a certain location. We develop 95%-quantile regressions to model the influence of effective temperature sum on the maximum potential abundance of 25 common understory plant species of Finland, along 868 nationwide plots sampled in 1985. Fifteen of these species showed a significant response to temperature sum that was consistent in temperature-only models and in all-predictors models, which also included cumulative precipitation, soil texture, soil fertility, tree species and stand maturity as predictors. For species with significant and consistent responses to temperature, we forecasted potential shifts in abundance for the period 2041–2070 under the IPCC A1B emission scenario using temperature-only models. We predict major potential changes in abundance and average northward distribution shifts of 6–8 km yr−1. Our results emphasize inter-specific differences in the impact of global warming on the understory layer of boreal forests. Species in all functional groups from dwarf shrubs, herbs and grasses to bryophytes and lichens showed significant responses to temperature, while temperature did not limit the abundance of 10 species. We discuss the interest of modelling the 'maximum potential abundance' to deal with the uncertainty in the predictions of realized abundances associated to the effect of environmental factors not accounted for and to dispersal limitations of species, among others. We believe this concept has a promising and unexplored potential to forecast the impact of specific drivers of global change under future scenarios.

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

Space resource utilization of dominant species integrates abundance- and functional-based processes for better predictions of plant diversity dynamics

Sustainable ecosystem management relies on our ability to predict changes in plant diversity and to understand the underlying mechanisms. Empirical evidence demonstrates that abundance- and functional-based processes simultaneously explain the loss of plant diversity in response to human activities. Recently, a novel indicator based on percent cover (CoverD) and maximum height (HeightD) of the dominant plant species – Space Resource Utilization (SRUD) – has proven to give robust and better predictions of plant diversity dynamics than community biomass. Whether the superior predictive ability of SRUD is due to its capacity to simultaneously capture abundance- and functional-based processes remains unknown. Here, we tested this hypothesis by quantifying mechanistic links between changes in SRUD and biodiversity in response to nutrients and herbivores. Furthermore, we assessed the relative contribution of dominant, intermediate, and rare species to reduced density of individuals by combining null model analysis with field experiments. We found that SRUD successfully captured changes in ground-level light availability and changes in the number of individuals to predict plant diversity dynamics, and each of CoverD and HeightD partly and independently contributed to both processes. Comparative results from null model analysis and field experiments confirmed that individual losses of dominant, intermediate, and rare species followed non-random processes. Specifically, compared with random loss process, rare species lost proportionally more individuals and thus disproportionately contributed to species loss, while dominant and intermediate species lost less. Our results demonstrate that SRUD captures both abundance- and functional-based processes thus explaining why SRUD provides more accurate predictions of changes in species diversity. Given that rare species can play an important role in shaping community structure, resisting against invasion, impacting higher trophic levels, and providing multiple ecosystem functions, reducing the SRU of dominant species could alleviate the risk of exclusion of rare species by mitigating abundance- and functional-based competition processes.

opencc-zeroApr 2023View details →

Plant–hummingbird pollination networks exhibit limited rewiring after experimental removal of a locally abundant plant species

In this study, we simulated the local extinction of a hummingbird-pollinated understory plant, Heliconia tortuosa, from tropical forest fragments using a replicated Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experimental design while quantifying plant-hummingbird interactions through two parallel techniques: pollen collected from individual hummingbirds ('pollen networks', created from >300 pollen samples) and observations of hummingbirds visiting focal plants ('camera networks', created from >19,000 observation hours). Each response variable was measured during each experimental period (pre and post) in sites with and without H. tortuosa removal (treatment and control).

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2023View details →

Data for "Negative density dependence promotes persistence of a globally rare yet locally abundant plant species (Oenoethera coloradensis)"

This dataset was used to perform the analyses in the manuscript "Negative density dependence promotes persistence of a globally rare yet locally abundant plant species (Oenoethera coloradensis)"

publicDec 2021View details →

The effect of niche filtering on plant species abundance in temperate grassland communities

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