Alpha diversity of vascular plants in European forests
2019
Večeřa, Martin | Divíšek, Jan | Lenoir, Jonathan, Roger Michel Henri | Jiménez‐alfaro, Borja | Biurrun, Idoia | Knollová, Ilona | Agrillo, Emiliano | Campos, Juan Antonio | Čarni, Andraž | Crespo Jiménez, Guillermo | Ćuk, Mirjana | Dimopoulos, Panayotis | Ewald, Jörg | Fernández‐gonzález, Federico | Gégout, Jean‐claude | Indreica, Adrian | Jandt, Ute | Jansen, Florian | Kącki, Zygmunt | Rašomavičius, Valerijus | Řezníčková, Marcela | Rodwell, John | Schaminée, Joop H.J. | Šilc, Urban | Svenning, Jens‐christian | Swacha, Grzegorz | Vassilev, Kiril | Venanzoni, Roberto | Willner, Wolfgang | Wohlgemuth, Thomas | Chytrý, Milan | Masaryk University [Brno] = Masarykova univerzita [Brno] = Université Masaryk [Brno] (MU / MUNI) | Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés - UMR CNRS 7058 UPJV (EDYSAN) ; Université de Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Universidad de Oviedo = University of Oviedo | Universidad del País Vasco [Espainia] / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea [España] = University of the Basque Country [Spain] = Université du pays basque [Espagne] (UPV / EHU) | Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" = Sapienza University [Rome] (UNIROMA) | National Institute of Biology [Ljubljana] (NIB) | Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha = University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) | University of Novi Sad | University of Patras | Institute for Molecular Systems Biology [ETH Zurich] (IMSB) ; Department of Biology [ETH Zürich] (D-BIOL) ; Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich)-Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich) | SILVA (SILVA) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech-Université de Lorraine (UL) | Transilvania University of Brasov | Philips Research Europe - Hamburg, Sector Medical Imaging Systems ; Philips Research | Martin-Luther-Universität Halle Wittenberg - Martin-Luther-University Halle Wittenberg (MLU) | University of Rostock = Universität Rostock | University of Wrocław [Poland] = Uniwersytet Wrocławski [Polska] = Universität Breslau [Polen] = Université de Wrocław [Pologne] (UWr) | Nature Research Centre [Vilnius] | Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen] (WUR) | Aarhus University [Aarhus] | Bulgarian Academy of Sciences = Académie bulgare des sciences [Académie des sciences de Bulgarie] = Българска академия на науките (BAS) | Dept Appl Biol ; Università degli Studi di Perugia = University of Perugia (UNIPG) | Vienna Institute for Nature Conservation and Analyses (VINCA) | Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL
International audience
Afficher plus [+] Moins [-]anglais. Aim. The former continental‐scale studies modelled coarse‐grained plant species‐richness patterns (gamma diversity). Here we aim to refine this information for European forests by (a) modelling the number of vascular plant species that co‐occur in local communities (alpha diversity) within spatial units of 400 m2; and (b) assessing the factors likely determining the observed spatial patterns in alpha diversity. Location. Europe roughly within 12°W–30°E and 35–60°N. Taxon. Vascular plants. Methods. The numbers of co‐occurring vascular plant species were counted in 73,134 georeferenced vegetation plots. Each plot was classified by an expert system into deciduous broadleaf, coniferous or sclerophyllous forest. Random Forest models were used to map and explain spatial patterns in alpha diversity for each forest type separately using 19 environmental, land‐use and historical variables. Results. Our models explained from 51.0% to 70.9% of the variation in forest alpha diversity. The modelled alpha‐diversity pattern was dominated by a marked gradient from species‐poor north‐western to species‐rich south‐eastern Europe. The most prominent richness hotspots were identified in the Calcareous Alps and adjacent north‐western Dinarides, the Carpathian foothills in Romania and the Western Carpathians in Slovakia. Energy‐related factors, bedrock types and terrain ruggedness were identified as the main variables underlying the observed richness patterns. Alpha diversity increases especially with temperature seasonality in deciduous broadleaf forests, on limestone bedrock in coniferous forests and in areas with low annual actual evapotranspiration in sclerophyllous forests. Main conclusions. We provide the first predictive maps and analyses of environmental factors driving the alpha diversity of vascular plants across European forests. Such information is important for the general understanding of European biodiversity. This study also demonstrates a high potential of vegetation‐plot databases as sources for robust estimation of the number of vascular plant species that co‐occur at fine spatial grains across large areas.
Afficher plus [+] Moins [-]Mots clés AGROVOC
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