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Methods of Soil Resampling to Monitor Changes in the Chemical Concentrations of Forest Soils
Published on: November 25, 2016
17.4K
Environment and past land use together predict functional diversity in a temperate forest
Meghna Krishnadas1, Noelle G Beckman2, Juan Carlos Peñagos Zuluaga1
1School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA.
Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America
|September 11, 2018
Summary
Forest composition is shaped by both environment and human land use. Functional diversity in temperate forests is linked to environmental factors like stream proximity and elevation, more so than land-use history.
Area of Science:
- Forest Ecology
- Community Ecology
- Trait-based Ecology
Background:
- Forest composition is influenced by both environmental conditions and human land use.
- Functional traits determine species' suitability to local environments, affecting forest composition.
- Human land use can alter species distributions and forest functional diversity, especially in temperate regions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how environmental and land-use variables simultaneously shape functional diversity in temperate deciduous forests.
- To examine the influence of specific functional traits (maximum height, rooting depth, wood density, seed mass) on species distributions and functional diversity.
- To understand the relative importance of trait-environment and trait-land use interactions.
Main Methods:
- Studied a 900-ha temperate deciduous forest in the northeastern United States with a mosaic of stands due to past land use.
- Sampled approximately 40,000 trees (>8 cm DBH) across 485 plots (137 ha).
- Analyzed four key functional traits: maximum height, rooting depth, wood density, and seed mass.
Main Results:
- Species within plots exhibited greater functional similarity than expected by chance, particularly when considering multiple traits together (multi-trait functional diversity).
- Multi-trait functional diversity was strongly correlated with distance from perennial stream, elevation, slope, and forest age.
- Trait-environment interactions were generally stronger than trait-land use interactions in explaining species distribution and abundance changes.
Conclusions:
- Environmental factors play a more dominant role than land-use legacies in structuring multi-trait functional diversity in this temperate forest.
- Functional traits can predict species establishment in relation to environmental conditions and land-use history.
- Findings offer insights for restoration and assisted regeneration strategies in human-modified temperate forests.
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