Abstract
Local plant species richness and composition may vary across habitats and between plant taxonomic groups within temperate deciduous forests. Multi-taxon approach is therefore needed to provide a more detailed insight into determinants affecting vegetation structure. Fifty-four deciduous oak-dominated vegetation plots (20 m × 20 m) were sampled across central Slovakia (Štiavnické vrchy Mts) in order to study the effect of environmental (soil, light, topographic) factors on species richness and composition patterns of two main assemblages of understorey layer (herb-layer vascular plants and ground-dwelling bryophytes). The number of recorded herb-layer vascular plants and ground-dwelling bryophytes was 12–48 (mean 28) and 0–11 (mean 4) species per plot, respectively. Generalized linear model revealed that species richness of herb-layer vascular plants was driven by canopy openness, altitude, soil pH/base saturation gradient and plant-available phosphorus. Canopy openness and heat load index accompanied by soil pH/base saturation gradient determined changes of the ground-dwelling bryophyte richness. Canonical Correspondence Analysis identified soil pH/base saturation gradient, canopy openness, soil silt and topography related predictors (altitude, slope, radiation) as the main drivers of the herb-layer vascular plant compositional variability. Species composition variation of ground-dwelling bryophytes was controlled by radiation and canopy openness.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Abbreviations
- CCA:
-
Canonical Correspondence Analysis
- GLM:
-
Generalized Linear Model
- PCA:
-
Principal Component Analysis
References
Ádám, R., P. Odor and J. Boloni. 2013. The effects of stand characteristics on the understory vegetation in Quercus petraea and Q. cerris dominated forests. Community Ecol. 14: 101–109.
Andersson, M. 1988. Toxicity and tolerance of aluminium in vascular plants. A review. Water Air Soil Pollut. 39: 439–462.
Attiwill, P.M. and M. Adams. 1993. Nutrient cycling in forests. New Phytol. 124: 561–582.
Augusto, L., J.-L. Dupouey and J. Ranger. 2003. Effects of tree species on understory vegetation and environmental conditions in temperate forests. Ann. For. Sci. 60: 823–831.
Augusto, L., J. Ranger, D. Binkley and A. Rothe. 2002. Impact of several common tree species of European temperate forests on soil fertility. Ann. For. Sci. 59: 233–253.
Axmanová, I., M. Chytrý, D. Zelený, C.F. Li, M. Vymazalová, J. Danihelka, M. Horsák, M. Kočí, S. Kubešová, Z. Lososová, Z. Otýpková, L. Tichý, V.B. Martynenko, E.Z. Baisheva, B. Schuster and M. Diekmann. 2012. The species richness-productivity relationship in the herb layer of European deciduous forests. Global Ecol. Biogeogr. 21: 657–667.
Bacaro, G., D. Rocchni, I. Bonini, M. Marignani, S. Maccherini and A. Chiarucci. 2008. The role of regional and local scale predictors for plant species richness in Mediterranean forests. Plant Biosyst. 142: 630–642.
Barbier, S., F. Gosselin and P. Balandier. 2008. Influence of tree species on understory vegetation diversity and mechanisms involved – A critical review for temperate and boreal forests. For. Ecol. Manag. 254: 1–15.
Bates, J.W. 1992. Mineral nutrient acquisition and retention by bryophytes. J. Bryol. 17: 223–240.
Bates, J.W. 2009. Mineral nutrition and substratum ecology. In: Goffinet, B. and A.J. Shaw (eds.), Bryophyte Biology. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. pp. 299–356.
Brown, D.H. and J.W. Bates. 1990. Bryophytes and nutrient cycling. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 104: 129–147.
Büscher, P., N. Koedam and D. van Speybroeck 1990. Cation-exchange properties and adaptation to soil acidity in bryophytes. New Phytol. 115: 177–186.
Chytrý, M., L. Tichý and J. Roleček. 2003. Local and regional patterns of species richness in central European vegetation types along the pH/calcium gradient. Folia Geobot. 38: 429–442.
Cornelissen, J.H.C, S.I. Lang, N.A. Soudzilovskaia and H.J. During. 2007. Comparative cryptogam ecology: a review of bryophyte and lichen traits that drive biogeochemistry. Ann. Bot. 99: 987–1001.
Dumortier, M., J. Butaye, H. Jacquemyn, N. van Camp, N. Lust and M. Hermy. 2002. Predicting vascular plant species richness of fragmented forests in agricultural landscapes in central Belgium. For. Ecol. Manag. 158: 85–102.
Dupré, C, C. Wessberg and M. Diekmann. 2002. Species richness in deciduous forests: effects of species pools and environmental variables. J. Veg. Sci. 13: 505–516.
Ellenberg, H. 2009. Vegetation Ecology of Central Europe. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Ewald, J. 2008. Plant species richness in mountain forests of the Bavarian Alps. Plant Biosyst. 142: 594–603.
Frazer, G.W., CD. Canham and K.P Lertzman. 1999. Gap Light Analyzer (GLA), Version 2.0. Imaging software to extract canopy structure and gap light transmission indices from true-colour fisheye photographs, user’s manual and program documentation. Simon Fraser Univ., Burnaby, British Columbia.
Gilliam, FS. 2007. The ecological significance of the herbaceous layer in temperate forest ecosystems. BioScience 57: 845–858.
Härdtle, W., G. von Oheimb and C. Westphal. 2003. The effects of light and soil conditions on the species richness of the ground vegetation of deciduous forests in northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). For. Ecol. Manag. 182: 327–338.
Hofmeister, J., J. Hošek, M. Modrý and J. Roleček. 2009. The influence of light and nutrient availability on herb layer species richness in oak-dominated forests in central Bohemia. Plant Ecol. 205: 57–75.
Hokkanen, P. 2006. Environmental patterns and gradients in the vascular plants and bryophytes of eastern Fennoscandian herb-rich forests. For. Ecol. Manag. 229: 73–87.
Hrivnák, R., D. Gömöry, M. Slezák, K. Ujházy, R. Hédl, B. Jarčuška and M. Ujházyová. 2014. Species richness pattern along altitudinal gradient in Central European beech forests. Folia Geobot. 49: 425–441.
Hrivnák, R., M. Slezák, B. Jarčuška, I. Jarolímek and J. Kochjarová. 2015. Native and alien plant species richness response to soil nitrogen and phosphorus in temperate floodplain and swamp forests. Forests 6: 3501–3513.
Ingerpuu, N, K. Vellak, J. Liira and M. Pärtel. 2003. Relationships between species richness patterns in deciduous forests at the north Estonian limestone escarpment. J. Veg. Sci. 14: 773–780.
Johnson, J.B. and K.S. Omland. 2004. Model selection in ecology and evolution. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19: 101–108.
Kellner, O. 1993. Effects on associated flora of sylvicultural nitrogen fertilization repeated at long intervals. J. Appl. Ecol. 30: 563–574.
Kubešová, S. and M. Chytrý. 2005. Diversity of bryophytes on tree-less cliffs and talus slopes in a forested central European landscape. J. Bryol. 27: 35–46.
Longuetaud, F., T. Seifert, J.-M. Leban and H. Pretzsch. 2008. Analysis of long-term dynamics of crown of sessile oaks at the stand level by means of spatial statistics. For. Ecol. Manag. 225: 2007–2019.
Lundholm, J.T. 2009. Plant species diversity and environmental heterogeneity: spatial scale and competing hypotheses. J. Veg. Sci. 20: 377–391.
Marhold, K. and F. Hindák (eds.) 1998. Checklist of Non-vascular and Vascular Plants of Slovakia. Veda, Bratislava.
Márialigeti, S., B. Németh, F. Tinya and P. Odor. 2009. The effects of stand structure on ground-floor bryophyte assemblages in temperate mixed forests. Biodiv Conserv. 18: 2223–2241.
Marschner, H. 1991. Mechanisms of adaptation of plants to acid soils. Plant Soil 134: 1–20.
McCune, B. and D. Keon. 2002. Equations for potential annual direct incident radiation and heat load. J. Veg. Sci. 13: 603–606.
Merunková, K. and M. Chytrý. 2012. Environmental controls of species richness and composition in upland grasslands of the southern Czech Republic. Plant Ecol. 213: 591–602.
Pärtel, M. 2002. Local plant diversity patterns and evolutionary history at regional scale. Ecology 83: 2361–2366.
Pausas, J.G. 1994. Species richness patterns in the understorey of Pyrenean Pinus sylvestris forest. J. Veg. Sci. 5: 517–524.
Pausas, J.G. and M.P Austin. 2001. Patterns of plant species richness in relation to different environments: an appraisal. J. Veg. Sci. 12: 153–166.
Proctor, M.C.F. 1981. Physiological ecology of bryophytes. Adv. Bryol. 1: 79–166.
Proctor, M.C.F. and Z. Tuba. 2002. Poikilohydry and homoihydry: antithesis or spectrum of possibilities? New Phytol. 156: 327–349.
Raabe, S., J. Müller, M. Manthey, O. Dürhammer, U. Teuber, A. Gottlein, B. Forster, R. Brandl and C. Bässler. 2010. Drivers of bryophyte diversity allow implications for forest management with a focus on climate change. For. Ecol. Manag. 260: 1956–1964.
Rahbek, C. 2005. The role of spatial scale and the perception of largescale species-richness patterns. Ecol. Lett. 8: 224–239.
Reczyńska, K. 2015. Diversity and ecology of oak forests in SW Poland (Sudetes Mts.). Phytocoenologia 45: 85–106.
Rincon, E. 1988. The effect of herbaceous litter on bryophyte growth. J. Bryol. 15: 209–217.
Sabatini, F.M., B. Jiménez-Alfaro, S. Burrascano and C. Blasi. 2014. Drivers of herb-layer species diversity in two unmanaged temperate forests in northern Spain. Community Ecol. 15: 147–157.
Schuster, B. and M. Diekmann. 2003. Changes in species density along the soil pH gradient – evidence from German plant communities. Folia Geobot. 38: 367–379.
Schuster, B. and M. Diekmann. 2005. Species richness and environmental correlates in deciduous forests of Northwest Germany. For. Ecol. Manag. 206: 197–205.
Shmida, A. and M.V. Wilson. 1985. Biological determinants of species diversity. J. Biogeogr. 12: 1–20.
Szymura, T.H. and M. Szymura. 2011. Soil properties and light availability determine species richness and vegetation diversity in an overgrown coppice oak stand. Pol. J. Ecol. 59: 523–533.
Tilman, D. 2000. Causes, consequences and ethics of biodiversity. Nature 405: 208–211.
Tinya, F., S. Márialigeti, I. Király, B. Németh and P. Odor. 2009. The effect of light conditions on herbs, bryophytes and seedlings of temperate mixed forests in Ӧrség, Western Hungary. Plant Ecol. 204: 69–81.
Tyler, G. 2003. Some ecophysiological and historical approaches to species richness and calcicole/calcifuge behaviour – contribution to a debate. Folia Geobot. 38: 419–428.
van der Hoeven, E. and H.J. During. 1997. Positive and negative interactions in bryophyte populations. In: de Kroon, H. and J. van Groenendael (eds.), The Ecology and Evolution of Clonal Plants. Leiden, Backhuys, pp. 291–310.
van der Wal, R., I.S.K. Pearc and R.W. Brooker. 2005. Mosses and the struggle for light in a nitrogen-polluted world. Oecologia 142: 159–168.
Vockenhuber, E.A., C. Scherber, C. Langenbruch, M. Meiβner, D. Seidel and T. Tscharntke. 2011. Tree diversity and environmental context predict herb species richness and cover in Germany’s largest connected deciduous forest. Perspect. Plant Ecol. Evol. Syst. 13: 111–119.
Whigham, D.F. 2004. Ecology of woodland herbs in temperate deciduous forests. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Ev l. 35: 583–621.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Slezák, M., Axmanová, I. Patterns of plant species richness and composition in deciduous oak forests in relation to environmental drivers. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 17, 61–70 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1556/168.2016.17.1.8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/168.2016.17.1.8
Keywords
- Alpha diversity
- Bryophytes
- Deciduous oak forests
- Light conditions
- Soil chemistry
- Topography
- Vascular plants