The effects of environmental features and overstory composition on the understory species assemblage in sub-Mediterranean coppiced woods: implications for a sustainable forest management

• Autorzy: Tardella F.M. , Postiglione N. , Vitanzi A. , Catorci A.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Understanding the relationship among environmental factors, overstory and understory is a key step for the improvement of sustainable forest management. Our aim was to understand how environmental features (topographic factors) and overstory (tree species) composition affect understory (shrub and herb species) assemblage in sub-Mediterranean coppiced woods. The study area lies in the Monti Sibillini National Park (central Italy). In 205 plots (20 × 20 m) we collected topographic features and species cover values; moreover, we defined the Social Behaviour Type (SBT — i.e. species ecological and dynamic features) of each understory species. Data were analysed using Redundancy Analysis and Generalized Linear Modeling. We found that topographic factors shaped percentage cover of different tree species and hence determined forest community type. Topography-related factors were further mediated by the tree layer composition, in filtering understory assemblage, on the basis of species SBT. We found no effect of overstory species diversity on understory species diversity. However, the presence of tree species different from the dominant ones increased understory species richness. This effect was particularly notable in evergreen woods, dominated by Quercus ilex. We conclude that, to improve the management sustainability, coppicing management should be focused on the achievement of the greater tree species diversity.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

environmental feature; forest management; coppice; forest ecology; biodiversity conservation; topographical factor; social behaviour; species diversity

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Polish Journal of Ecology
• Rocznik: 2017
• Tom: 65
• Numer: 2
• Opis fizyczny: p.167-182,fig.,ref.

Twórcy

autor

Tardella F.M.

• School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine – UNICAM University of Camerino, via Pontoni 5, I-62032, Camerino (MC), Italy

autor

Postiglione N.

• School of Advanced Studies – UNICAM University of Camerino, via Lili 55, I-62032, Camerino (MC), Italy

autor

Vitanzi A.

• School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine – UNICAM University of Camerino, via Pontoni 5, I-62032, Camerino (MC), Italy

autor

Catorci A.

• School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine – UNICAM University of Camerino, via Pontoni 5, I-62032, Camerino (MC), Italy

Bibliografia

• Arevalo J.R., Cortés-Selva F., Chiarucci A. 2012 — Ecological determinants of species composition in the forest vegetation of Tuscany (Italy) — Plant Ecol. Evol. 145: 323–331.
• Augusto L., Ranger J., Binkley D., Rothe A. 2002 — Impact of several common tree species of European temperate forestson soil fertility — Ann. For. Sci. 59: 233–253.
• Barbier S., Gosselin F., Balandier P. 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.
• Bartels S.F., Chen H.Y. 2010 — Is understory plant species diversity driven by resource quantity or resource heterogeneity? - Ecology, 91: 1931–1938.
• Bartha S., Merolli A., Campetella G., Canullo R. 2008 — Changes of vascular plant diversity along a chronosequence of beech coppice stands, central Apennines, Italy — Plant Biosyst. 142: 572–583.
• Bengtsson J., Nilsson S.G., Franc A., Menozzi P. 2000 — Biodiversity, disturbances, ecosystem function and management of European forests — For. Ecol. Manag. 132: 39–50.
• Blasi C., Carranza M., Frondoni R., Rosati L. 2000 — Ecosystem classification and mapping: a proposal for Italian landscape — Appl. Veg. Sci. 3: 233–242.
• Borcard D., Legendre P. 1994 — Environmental control and spatial structure in ecological communities: an example using oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatei) — Environ. Ecol. Stat. 1: 37–61.
• Borcard D., Legendre P., Drapeau P. 1992 — Partialling out the spatial component of ecological variation — Ecology, 73: 1045–1055.
• Bracchetti L., Carotenuto L., Catorci A. 2012 — Land-cover changes in a remote area of central Apennines (Italy) and management directions — Landsc. Urban Plan. 104: 157–170.
• Braun-Blanquet J. 1964 - Pflanzensoziologie. Third Edition — Springer Verlag, Wien, New-York, 865 pp.
• Burrascano S., Sabatini F.M., Blasi C. 2011 — Testing indicators of sustainable forest management o understory composition and diversity in southern Italy through variation partitioning — Plant Ecol. 212: 829–841.
• Calcagno V., de Mazancourt C. 2010 — glmulti: an R package for easy automated model selection with (generalized) linear models — J. Stat. Software, 34: 1–29.
• Čarni A., Juvan N., Kosir P., Marinsek A., Pausic A., Silc U. 2011 — Plant communities in gradients — Plant Biosyst. 145: 54–64.
• Catorci A., Vitanzi A., Ballelli S. 2010a — Phytosociological study of beech and beech-mixed woods in Monti Sibillini National Park (Central Apennines, Italy) — Hacquetia, 9: 23–75.
• Catorci A., Vitanzi A., Tardella F.M. 2010b — Plant species diversity and distribution along environmental gradients in a submediterranean forest landscape (central Italy) — Braun-Blanquetia, 46: 171–179.
• Catorci A., Vitanzi A., Tardella F.M., Hrsak V. 2011a — Regeneration of Ostrya carpinifolia forest after coppicing: modeling of changes in species diversity and composition — Pol. J. Ecol. 59: 483–494.
• Catorci A., Vitanzi A., Tardella F.M. 2011b — Variations in CSR strategies along stress gradients in the herb layer of submediterranean forests (central Italy) — Plant Ecol. Evol. 144: 299–306.
• Chytrý M., Exner A., Hrivnak R., Ujhazy K., Valachovič M., Willner W. 2002 — Context dependence of diagnostic species: A case study of the Central European spruce forests — Folia Geobot. 37: 403–417.
• Conti F., Abbate G., Alessandrini A., Blasi C. 2005 - An annotated checklist of the Italian vascular flora — Palombi, Roma, IT, 420 pp.
• Decocq G., Aubert M., Dupont F., Alard D., Saguez R., Wattez-Franger A., De Foucault B., Delelis-Dusollier A., Bardat J. 2004 — Plant diversity in a managed temperate deciduous forest: understorey response to two silvicultural systems — J. Appl. Ecol. 41: 1065–1079.
• Denslow J.S. 1980 — Patterns of plant species diversity during succession under different disturbance regimes — Oecologia, 46: 18–21.
• Endresz G., Zold-Balogh A., Kalapos T. 2005 — Local distribution pattern of Brachypodium pinnatum (Poaceae) — Field experiments in xeric loess grassland in N. Hungary — Phyton, 45: 249–265.
• Facioni L., Burrascano S., Del Vico E., Rosati L., Tilia A., Blasi C. 2015 — Phytosociological analysis of white oak (Quercus pubescens s. l.) woodlands and related successional stages: spatial patterns and their drivers — Phytocoenol. 45: 325–364.
• Franklin J.F., Cromack K., Denison W., McKee A., Maser C., Sedell J., Swanson F., Juday G. 1981 - Ecological characteristics of old-growth Douglas-fir forests — General Technical Report PNW-118, US Department of Agricolture, Portland, OR, USA.
• Freestone A.L., Inouye B.D. 2006 — Dispersal limitation and environmental heterogeneity shape scale-dependent diversity patterns in plant communities — Ecology, 87: 2425–2432.
• Geroy I.J., Gribb M.M., Marshall H.P., Chandler D.G., Benner S.G., McNamara J.P. 2011 — Aspect influences on soil water retention and storage — Hydrol. Process. 25: 3836–3842.
• Gilbert B., Lechowicz M.J. 2004 — Neutrality, niches, and dispersal in a temperate forest understory — Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 101: 7651–7656.
• Gondard H., Romane F., Santa Regina I., Leonardi S. 2006 — Forest management and plant species diversity in chestnut stands of three Mediterranean areas — Biodiv. Conserv. 15: 1129–1142.
• Grafen A., Hails R. 2002 - Modern statistics for the life sciences — Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Grime J.P. 2001 — Plant strategies, Vegetation processes and Ecosystem Properties. Second edition — John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, England, 417 pp.
• Hairston A.B., Grigal D.F. 1991 — Topographic influences on soils and trees within single mapping units on a sandy outwash landscape — For. Ecol. Manag. 43: 35–45.
• Hanna A.Y., Harlan P.W., Lewis D.T. 1982 — Soil available water as influenced by landscape position and aspect — Agron. J. 74: 999–1004.
• Hart S.A., Chen H.Y.H. 2006 — Understory vegetation dynamics of North American boreal forests — Crit. Rev. Plant Sci. 25: 381–397.
• Hérault B., Honnay O. 2005 — The relative importance of local, regional and historical factors determining the distribution of plants in fragmented riverine forests: an emergent group approach — J. Biogeogr. 32: 2069–2081.
• Hester A.J., Edenius L., Buttenschøn R.M., Kuiters A.T. 2000 — Interactions between forests and herbivores: the role of controlled grazing experiments — Forestry, 73: 381–391.
• Hirzel A., Guisan A. 2002 — Which is the optimal sampling strategy for habitat suitability modelling — Ecol. Model. 157: 331–341.
• Hutchinson T.F., Boerner E.J., Iverson L.R., Sutherland S., Sutherland E.K. 1999 — Landscape patterns of understory composition and richness across a moisture and nitrogen mineralization gradient in Ohio (USA) Quercus forests — Plant Ecol. 144: 177–189.
• Komiyama A., Kato S., Teranishi M. 2001 — Differential overstory leaf flushing contributes to the formation of patchy understory — J. For. Res. 6: 163–171.
• Kuželova I., Chytry M. 2004 — Interspecific associations in phytosociological data sets: how do they change between local and regional scale? — Plant Ecol. 173: 247–257.
• Legendre P., Legendre L. 1998 - Numerical ecology. 2nd English ed. Elsevier, Amsterdam, NL, 853 pp.
• Macdonald S.E., Fenniak T.E. 2007 — Understory plant communities of boreal mixedwood forests in western Canada: natural patterns and response to variable-retention harvesting — For. Ecol. Manag. 242: 34–48.
• Marchetti M., Tognetti R., Lombardi F., Chiavetta U., Palumbo G., Sellitto M., Colombo C., Iovieno P., Alfani A., Baldantoni D., Barbati A., Ferrari B., Bonacquisti S., Capotorti G., Copiz R., Blasi C. 2010 — Ecological portrayal of old-growth forests and persistent woodlands in the Cilento and Diano National Park (southern Italy) — Plant Biosyst. 144: 130–147.
• McCune B. 1997 — Influence of noisy environmental data on canonical correspondence analysis — Ecology, 78: 2617–2623.
• Misson L., De Warnaffe G.D.B., Jonard M. 2001 — Effects of fertilization on the vascular ground vegetation of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Lieb.) stands — Ann. For. Sci. 58: 829–842.
• Nilsson M.C., Wardle D.A. 2005 — Understory vegetation as a forest ecosystem driver: evidence from the northern Swedish boreal forests — Front. Ecol. Environ. 3: 421–428.
• Noss N.F. 1990 — Indicators for monitoring biodiversity: a hierarchical approach — Conserv. Biol. 4: 355-364.
• Orestes Cerdeira J., Duarte Silva A.P., Cadima J., Minhoto M. 2009 — subselect: Selecting variable subsets — R package version 0.10-1, URL http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=subselect.
• Orsomando E., Catorci A., Pitzalis M., Raponi M. 2000 — The phytoclimate of Umbria — Parlatorea, 6: 5–24.
• Palmer M.W. 1993 — Putting things in even better order: the advantages of canonical correspondence analysis — Ecology, 74: 2215–2230.
• Pausas J.G., Austin M.P. 2001 — Patterns of plant species richnessin relation to different environments: an appraisal — J. Veg. Sci. 12: 153–166.
• Peres-Neto P.R., Legendre P., Dray S., Borcard D. 2006 — Variation partitioning of species data matrices: estimation and comparison of fractions — Ecology, 87: 2614–2625.
• Pesaresi S., Biondi E., Casavecchia S., Catorci A., Foglia M. 2007 — Il Geodatabase del Sistema Informativo Vegetazionale delle Marche — Fitosociologia, 44(2), suppl. 1: 95–101.
• Pesaresi S., Galdenzi D., Biondi E., Casavecchia S. 2014 — Bioclimate of Italy: application of the worldwide bioclimatic classification system — J. Maps 10: 538–553.
• Podani J. 2007 - Analisi ed esplorazione multivariata dei dati in ecologia e biologia — Liguori , Napoli, IT, 544 pp.
• Standovár T., Odor P., Aszalos R., Galhidy L. 2006 — Sensitivity of ground layer vegetation diversity descriptors in indicating forest naturalness — Community Ecol. 7: 199–209.
• Sternberg M., Shoshany M. 2001 — Influence of slope aspect on Mediterranean woody formations: comparison of a semiarid and an arid site in Israel — Ecol. Res. 16: 335–345.
• Troiani N., Tardella F.M., Malatesta L., Corazza M., Ferrari C., Catorci A. 2016 — Long-term cropland abandonment does not lead per se to the recovery of semi-natural herb communities deemed habitats of community interest — Acta Bot. Croat. 75: 226–235.
• Uemura S. 1994 — Patterns of leaf phenology in forest understory — Can. J. Bot. 72: 409–414.
• Virágh K., Bartha S. 1998 — Interspecific associations in different successional stages of Brachypodium pinnatum grassland after deforestation in Hungary — Tiscia, 31: 3–12.
• Vitasović Kosić I., Tardella F.M., Catorci A. 2012 — Effect of Management Modification on the Coenological Composition of the North Adriatic Pastoral Landscape (Ćićarija, Croatia) — Haquetia, 11: 17–46.
• von Oheimb G., Härdtle W. 2009 — Selection harvest in temperate deciduous forests: impact on herb layer richness and composition — Biodivers. Conserv. 18: 271–287.
• Warren II R.J. 2008 — Mechanisms driving understory evergreen herb distributions across slope aspects: as derived from landscape position — Plant Ecol. 198: 297–308.
• Whigham D.F. 2004 — Ecology of woodland herbs in temperate deciduous forests — Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 35: 583–621.

Identyfikatory

DOI

10.3161/15052249PJE2017.65.2.001