Effects of long- and short-term management on the functional structure of meadows through species turnover and intraspecific trait variability
Language English Country Germany Media print-electronic
Document type Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PubMed
26837384
DOI
10.1007/s00442-016-3548-y
PII: 10.1007/s00442-016-3548-y
Knihovny.cz E-resources
- Keywords
- Abandoned meadows, Mesic grassland, Plant height, Shoot biomass, Specific leaf area,
- MeSH
- Biomass MeSH
- Time MeSH
- Phenotype MeSH
- Plant Leaves physiology MeSH
- Grassland * MeSH
- Environment * MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
The functional structures of communities respond to environmental changes by both species replacement (turnover) and within-species variation (intraspecific trait variability; ITV). Evidence is lacking on the relative importance of these two components, particularly in response to both short- and long-term environmental disturbance. We hypothesized that such short- and long-term perturbations would induce changes in community functional structure primarily via ITV and turnover, respectively. To test this we applied an experimental design across long-term mown and abandoned meadows, with each plot containing a further level of short-term management treatments: mowing, grazing and abandonment. Within each plot, species composition and trait values [height, shoot biomass, and specific leaf area (SLA)] were recorded on up to five individuals per species. Positive covariations between the contribution of species turnover and ITV occurred for height and shoot biomass in response to both short- and long-term management, indicating that species turnover and intraspecific adjustments selected for similar trait values. Positive covariations also occurred for SLA, but only in response to long-term management. The contributions of turnover and ITV changed depending on both the trait and management trajectory. As expected, communities responded to short-term disturbances mostly through changes in intraspecific trait variability, particularly for height and biomass. Interestingly, for SLA they responded to long-term disturbances by both species turnover and intraspecific adjustments. These findings highlight the importance of both ITV and species turnover in adjusting grassland functional trait response to environmental perturbation, and show that the response is trait specific and affected by disturbance regime history.
DAPHNE Institute of Applied Ecology z s Žumberk 71 53836 České Budějovice Czech Republic
Institute of Botany The Czech Academy of Sciences Dukelská 135 37982 Třeboň Czech Republic
Institute of Botany The Czech Academy of Sciences Lidická 25 27 60200 Brno Czech Republic
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