Search results for " functional trait"
showing 10 items of 13 documents
sPlotOpen – An environmentally balanced, open‐access, global dataset of vegetation plots
2021
Datos disponibles en https://github.com/fmsabatini/sPlotOpen_Code
Climate and socio-economic factors explain differences between observed and expected naturalization patterns of European plants around the world
2021
Pouteau, R., et al.
Thirty years unmanaged green roofs: Ecological research and design implications
2016
Abstract The variations in species composition and assemblage of unmanaged simple-intensive green roofs in Hannover, Germany, were investigated over a thirty year period, in order to assess the persistence of the initial seed mixture and to evaluate floristic changes. The roofs were greened in 1985 with soil-based turf rolls sown with a mixture of five grasses (Festuca rubra, Festuca ovina, Agrostis capillaris, Lolium perenne and Poa pratensis). Three sets of 120 phytosociological releves, sampled in 1987, 1999 and 2014, have been compared to assess: (1) nestedness vs spatial turnover, (2) functional diversity and (3) the importance of vegetation dynamics on green roof performance and desig…
The Reproductive Strategy as an Important Trait for the Distribution of Lower-Trunk Epiphytic Lichens in Old-Growth vs. Non-Old Growth Forests
2021
(1) Research Highlights: The work studied the beta diversity patterns of epiphytic lichens as a function of their reproductive strategies in old-growth and non-old growth forests from the Mediterranean area. (2) Background and Objectives: The reproductive strategies of lichens can drive the dispersal and distribution of species assemblages in forest ecosystems. To further investigate this issue, we analyzed data on epiphytic lichen diversity collected from old-growth and non-old growth forest sites (36 plots) located in Cilento National Park (South Italy). Our working hypothesis was that the dispersal abilities due to the different reproductive strategies drove species beta diversity depend…
Towards Quantifying Non-Photosynthetic Vegetation for Agriculture Using Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy
2021
Non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV) has been identified as priority variable in the context of new spaceborne imaging spectroscopy missions. In this study we provide a first attempt to quantify NPV biomass from these unprecedented data streams to be provided by multiple recently launched or planned instruments. A hybrid workflow is proposed including Gaussian process regression (GPR) trained over radiative transfer model (RTM) simulations and applying active learning strategies. A soybean field data set including two dates with NPV measurements on yellow and senescent (brown) plant organs was used for model validation, resulting in relative errors of 13.4%. This prototype retrieval model wa…
Acquatina Lagoon: a model ecosystem to study community patterns
2013
Acquatina is a small lagoon ecosystem (0.45 km2) located on the Adriatic coast only 5 km north of Lecce (Italy). The lagoon has a freshwater input in the northern part and a connection with the sea at the south edge, being characterised by a latitudinal gradient of salinity and an internal patchiness of habitats. Here, we have used the lagoons as a model to study the influence of these sources of variation on the spatial distribution of macrobenthis and fish fauna, using both taxonomic and on taxonomic descriptors. Results showed a non random distribution of both species and functional traits of macroinvertebrate and fish fauna within the lagoon, despite the relatively small surface area. S…
Effects of microplastics on the functional traits of aquatic benthic organisms: A global-scale meta-analysis
2021
Microplastics are widespread in the aquatic environment and thus available for many organisms at different trophic levels. Many scientific papers focus their attention on the study of the effects of microplastics on different species at individual level. Here we performed a global scale meta-analysis focusing our work on the study of the effect of microplastics on the functional traits of aquatic benthic organisms. Overall, microplastics showed a moderate negative effect on the examined functional traits of benthic organisms. Our results show that some crucial functional traits, such as those linked to behaviour and feeding, appear to be unaffected by microplastics. In contrast, traits rela…
Monitoring of alien aquatic plants in the inland waters of Sicily (Italy)
2020
Updated and reliable data on the presence and distribution of alien aquatic plant species in Sicily are lacking, and there is a need to fill this gap for a proper and efficient management of freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity. This paper reviews the available knowledge about alien aquatic vascular plants in the inland waters of Sicily (Italy). The aim is to provide an updated checklist, as a first step in the study of the impact of those plants on the native species and ecosystems of this Mediterranean island. The paper focuses on the strictly aquatic species (hydrophytes), excluding emergent macrophytes. Four species were listed, all of them free-floating and with American origin. Most…
Plant morphology: outdated or advanced discipline in modern plant sciences?
2018
Despite an increasing societal awareness and sensitivity about biological diversity and nature conservation as pivotal matters for human survival and well-being, plant systematics has gone through a steady decline in interest, and researches on these topics are often neglected. This particularly applies to plant morphology in its broad sense (i.e. including anatomy, histology, micro-morphology), which has increasingly become marginalized and considered less important than other scientific methods in plant biology. Notwithstanding, even in the current times of genomics (plus other “omics” topics) and functional ecology, when trait-based approaches are essential for studying and understanding…
Microplastics and the functional traits of fishes: A global meta‐analysis
2021
Over the years, concern about the effects of microplastics has grown. Here, we answered the main question “What are the impacts of microplastics on the functional traits of fish species?” through a meta-analysis. The general impact of microplastic exposure on the functional traits of fishes and specifically on eight variables, namely, behaviour, development, fecundity, feeding, growth, health, hatching and survival was explored. Subgroup analyses were performed to detect correlations between the impact of microplastics and the following factors: species, life stage, habitat, water column habitat, day of exposure to microplastics and microplastic size, type and shape. A meta-regression analy…