Search results for "Ecosystem function"

Data from: Functional responses of multi-taxa communities to disturbance and stress gradients in a restored floodplain

2015

1. Trait-based approaches can reveal the mechanisms through which disturbances or stress impact communities, allowing comparisons of the role of different mechanisms in shaping communities among taxonomic groups. Such information can lead to higher comparability, transferability and predictability of the outcome of restoration projects. However, multitaxa trait-based approaches were rarely used in the context of ecosystem restoration. 2. We investigated the responses to environmental gradients of seven taxa (vascular plants, staphylinid and carabid beetles, spiders, isopods, diplopods and earthworms) in a restored floodplain using a species traits approach. We assessed the impact of flood d…

Data from: Functional structure of European forest beetle communities is enhanced by rare species

2022

From article abstract: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109491 ABSTRACT Biodiverse communities have been shown to sustain high levels of multifunctionality and thus a loss of species likely negatively impacts ecosystem functions. For most taxa, however, the roles of individual species are poorly known. Rare species, often the most likely to go extinct, may have unique traits leading to unique functional roles. Alternatively, rare species may be functionally redundant, such that their loss would not disrupt ecosystem functions. We quantified the functional role of rare species by using capture records of wood-living (saproxylic) beetle species, combined with recent databases of their mo…

The effects of long-term drainage and subsequent restoration on water table level and pore water chemistry in boreal peatlands

2014

Summary Degradation by drainage threatens biodiversity and globally important peatland ecosystem functions such as long-term carbon sequestration in peat. Restoration aims at safeguarding peatland values by recovering natural hydrology. Long-term effects of drainage and subsequent restoration, especially related to within-site variation of water table level and pore water chemistry, are poorly known. We studied hydrological variation at 38 boreal Sphagnum peatland sites (pristine, drained and restored) in Finland. The average water table level was significantly lower at Drained than Pristine sites especially near the ditches. We also observed large pore water chemical differences between Dr…

Convergence and divergence in organization of phytoplankton communities under various regimes of physical and biological control

2010

The hypothesis that physical constraints may be as important, if not more important, than biological ones in shaping the structure of phytoplankton assemblage was tested by analyzing longterm (11–29 years) phytoplankton series in eight lakes and nine sites located along a latitudinal gradient in the Northern hemisphere. Phytoplankton biomass was used and similarity of assemblages in same months of the annual data sets was then calculated by subtracting the Bray–Curtis dissimilarity index from 1. The extent of biological and physical forcing was partly based on ‘‘expert evaluation’’: the importance of four physical (light availability, temperature, conductivity, and sediment stirring up) and…

Study of the effects of climate extremes on functioning of intertidal assemblages to design an early warning sensor network

2020

Stable isotopes: a tool for understanding trophodynamic functioning in coastal lagoons

2010

Food web structure in Mediterranean coastal lagoons under different trophic conditions

2011

Monitoring tropical forests under a functional perspective with satellite-based vegetation optical depth.

2020

Monitoring ecosystem functions in forests is a priority in a climate change scenario, as climate-induced events may initially alter the functions more than slow-changing attributes, such as biomass. The ecosystem functional properties (EFPs) are quantities that characterize key ecosystem processes. They can be derived by point observations of gas and energy exchanges between the ecosystems and the atmosphere that are collected globally at FLUXNET flux tower sites and upscaled at ecosystem level. The properties here considered describe the ability of ecosystems to optimize the use of resources for carbon uptake. They represent functional forest information, are dependent on environmental dri…

Plant diversity enhances the natural attenuation of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs and oxygenated PAHs) in grassland soils

2019

Increasing plant species richness stimulates microbial activity in soil, which might favor biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). To explore the relationship between plant community composition and PACs in grassland soils (Fluvisols exposed to an urban atmosphere), we determined the concentrations of 29 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 15 oxygenated PAHs (OPAHs) in topsoils of 80 plots of a grassland biodiversity experiment. The plots included different levels of plant species richness (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 60 species) and 1–4 plant functional groups (grasses, small herbs, tall herbs, and legumes) in a randomized block design. The concentrations (ng g−1) of ∑29PAHs an…

Shifts in microbial diversity through land use intensity as drivers of carbon mineralization in soil

2015

10 pages; International audience; Land use practices alter the biomass and structure of soil microbial communities. However, the impact of land management intensity on soil microbial diversity (i.e. richness and evenness) and consequences for functioning is still poorly understood. Here, we addressed this question by coupling molecular characterization of microbial diversity with measurements of carbon (C) mineralization in soils obtained from three locations across Europe, each representing a gradient of land management intensity under different soil and environmental conditions. Bacterial and fungal diversity were characterized by high throughput sequencing of ribosomal genes. Carbon cycl…