Environmental drivers of species composition and richness in dry grasslands of northern and central Bohemia, Czech Republic
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Tuexenia |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | http://www.tuexenia.de/index.php?id=14&no_cache=1&L=4%252Fmember%252Fprofile&user_tuexenia_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=3404&cHash=6a1b0863574f2b715a33ddda627b4a33 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.14471/2014.34.017 |
| Field | Ecology |
| Keywords | biomass; diversity; nutrients; plant community; productivity; soil depth; soil pH; steppe |
| Description | Central European dry grasslands are remarkably diverse plant communities that occur at the western edge of the Eurasian forest-steppe zone and harbour many species of continental distribution. Although their plant community types have been described in detail, the diversity patterns and their environmental determinants are still poorly known for these grasslands. Here, we study environmental drivers of species composition and richness in dry grasslands of northern Bohemia (Ceske stredohori Mts) and central Bohemia (Krivoklat region), both in the Czech Republic. In vegetation plots of 100 m(2) we recorded all vascular plant species, measured soil chemistry variables, above-ground biomass production and nutrient concentrations in biomass. Species richness in these plots ranged from 13 to 55. The relationships between species composition and the environment were explored using detrended correspondence analysis and canonical correspondence analysis, while the relationships between species richness and the environment were assessed using univariate and multiple regression models. In both regions, species composition and richness strongly responded to the soil pH (ranging from 4.0 to 7.8), which was positively correlated with calcium and magnesium concentrations and negatively with annual precipitation. The response of species richness to soil pH was unimodal with a peak at pH of about 6.5 in the Ceske stredohori Mts, and positive in the Krivoklat region. Plots on soils with a pH higher than 5 consistently contained more than 35 species. In the Ceske stredohori Mts, species richness was positively related to the aboveground biomass production, whereas in the Krivoklat region, this relationship was only significant for graminoid species. In both areas, plots with soils deeper than 20 cm and with aboveground biomass dry weight above 200 g/m(2) harboured more than 40 species per 100 m(2). Moreover, in the Ceske stredohori Mts, nitrogen concentrations in the biomass had considerable effects on both species composition and richness: species numbers were lower at sites with higher nitrogen concentration. This indicates a threat to diversity of these dry grasslands under currently high atmospheric nitrogen deposition coupled with the absence of management at most of the studied sites. |
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