Carex buekii is a tall sedge, forming large stands in wetlands, particularly in river floodplains across Central Europe and thus on many sites determining the typical appearance of riverine habitats. Our paper aims at increasing the knowledge on ecology of C. buekii and its role in the wetlands. Field data were collected in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Italy. Carex buekii usually occurs in nutrient rich habitats, but is also capable of colonising relatively nutrient-poor ones; it grows on both acidic and alkaline soils (pH 3.3-7.4) with diverse concentrations of assimilable elements (Ca, Mg, P, K). One of the most important ecological characteristics of C. buekii is its relationship to the floodplains of watercourses. It seems to be dependent on, or at least very tolerant to regular disturbances by streaming, floods and transport of sediments. Carex buekii usually forms relatively uniform stands of its own association, Caricetum buekii. The species most frequently accompanying C. buekii are Urtica dioica, Calystegia sepium, Galium aparine, Rubus caesius, Phalaris arundinacea, and Cirsium arvense. The sedge also occurs in the understorey of forests with e.g. Alnus glutinosa, Salix fragilis, Padus avium, and Quercus robur. Carex buekii is able to colonise man-made or man-changed habitats such as railway embankments and roadsides or regulated river banks. Taking into account the IUCN Red List Criteria we propose to regard C. buekii as a least-concern (LC).

• MeSH
• Carex (rostlina) růst a vývoj   MeSH
• ekosystém * MeSH
• mokřady MeSH
• šáchorovité MeSH
• zachování přírodních zdrojů * MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH

Plant communities often exhibit high diversity, even though pairwise experiments usually result in competitive hierarchies that should result in competitive exclusion. Such experiments, however, do not typically allow expression of spatial traits, despite theoretical studies showing the potential importance of spatial mechanisms of diversity maintenance. Here we ask whether, in a clonal plant model system, spatial trait variation is more likely than growth trait variation to maintain diversity. We used a field-calibrated, spatially explicit model to simulate communities comprising sets of four simulated species differing in only one of a suite of architectural or growth traits at a time, examining their dynamics and long-term diversity. To compare trait manipulation effects across traits measured in different units, we scaled traits to have identical effects on initial productivity. We found that in communities of species differing only in an architectural trait, all species usually persist, whereas communities of species differing only in a growth trait experienced rapid competitive exclusion. To examine the roles of equalizing and stabilizing mechanisms in maintaining diversity, we conducted reciprocal invasion experiments for species pairs differing only in single traits. The results suggest that stabilizing mechanisms cannot account for the observed long-term co-occurrence. Strong positive correlations between diversity and similarity both in monoculture carrying capacity and reciprocal invasion ability suggesting equalizing mechanisms may instead be responsible.

• MeSH
• biodiverzita * MeSH
• biologické modely MeSH
• Carex (rostlina) genetika   růst a vývoj   fyziologie   MeSH
• distribuce rostlin MeSH
• druhová specificita MeSH
• fenotyp * MeSH
• nepohlavní rozmnožování MeSH
• počítačová simulace MeSH
• populační dynamika MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH