High functional diversity is related to high nitrogen availability in a deciduous forest - evidence from a functional trait approach

  • The current study tested the assumption that floristic and functional diversity patterns are negatively related to soil nitrogen content. We analyzed 20 plots with soil N-contents ranging from 0.63% to 1.06% in a deciduous forest near Munich (Germany). To describe species adaptation strategies to different nitrogen availabilities, we used a plant functional type (PFT) approach. Each identified PFT represents one realized adaptation strategy to the current environment. These were correlated, next to plant species richness and evenness, to soil nitrogen contents. We found that N-efficient species were typical for low soil nitrogen contents, while N-requiring species occur at high N-contents. In contrast to our initial hypotheses, floristic and functional diversity measures (number of PFTs) were positively related to nitrogen content in the soil. Every functional group has its own adaptation to the prevailing environmental conditions; in consequence, these functional groups can co-exist but do not out-compete one another. The increased number of functional groups at high N-contents leads to increased species richness. Hence, for explaining diversity patterns we need to consider species groups representing different adaptations to the current environmental conditions. Such co-existing ecological strategies may even overcome the importance of competition in their effect on biodiversity.

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Metadaten
Author:Markus Bernhardt-Römermann, Christine Römermann, Valério de Patta Pillar, Thomas Kudernatsch, Anton Fischer
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-300050
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-010-9058-5
ISSN:1874-9348
ISSN:1211-9520
Parent Title (English):Folia geobotanica
Publisher:Springer
Place of publication:Dordrecht [u.a.]
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2013
Date of first Publication:2010/02/18
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2013/05/24
Volume:45
Page Number:14
First Page:111
Last Page:124
Note:
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
HeBIS-PPN:34666084X
Institutes:Geowissenschaften / Geographie / Geowissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften
5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 58 Pflanzen (Botanik) / 580 Pflanzen (Botanik)
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Sammlung Biologie / Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell 3.0