Search results for "plant diversity"
showing 10 items of 11 documents
Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats
2021
© 2021 The Authors.
The impact of Pinus halepensis mill. afforestation on mediterranean spontaneous vegetation: do soil treatment and canopy cover matter?
2012
We investigated central Mediterranean Pinus halepensis plantations under semi-arid climate in order to evaluate the combined effect of soil treatment and afforestation practices on spontaneous plant species composition, richness and evenness, and on the trend and speed of vegetation dynamics. Phytosociological releves of three different plot typologies, i.e. (1) soil-treatment and plantation, (2) only soil-treatment, (3) no soil-treatment and no plantation, were compared by (a) multivariate analysis and (b) with reference to species richness and evenness. Moreover, in order to compare vegetation dynamics within the plantations with those ones ongoing in semi-natural garrigue communities, we…
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…
Effects of mowing on fungal endophytes and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in subalpine grasslands
2013
International audience; In French subalpine grasslands, cessation of mowing promotes dominance of Festuca paniculata, which alters plant diversity and ecosystem functioning. One of the mechanisms underpinning such effects may be linked to simultaneous changes in the abundance of fungal symbionts such as endophytes and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. In field conditions, mowing reduced the abundance of the endophyte Neotyphodium sp. in leaves of F. paniculata by a factor of 6, and increased mycorrhizal densities by a factor of 15 in the soil. In greenhouse experiments, the mycorrhizal colonization of Trifolium pratense and Allium porrum increased 3- fold and 3.8- fold respectively in mown vs u…
Grazers increase β-diversity of vascular plants and bryophytes in wood-pastures
2016
Questions How does the presence of grazers impact plant diversity at various spatial scales? What are the effects on plant β-diversity and its two components, species turnover and nestedness? Are the effects caused by defoliation, trampling or defecating? Location Twenty-four currently grazed and 24 abandoned wood-pasture sites in Central Finland. Methods The species richness of vascular plants and bryophytes was studied at four spatial scales: within 4-m2 subplots (α1), within 100-m2 plots (α2), within sites (α3) and within the landscape (γ). β-Diversity was studied between subplots within plots (β1), between plots within sites (β2) and between sites within the landscape (β3). Results Curr…
Is the riparian habitat creation an effective measure of plant conservation within the urbanized area?
2015
The study presents results of habitat creation and riparian vegetation recovery in artificial oxbow lakes in urbanized area within the large river valley. The investigation of open water, rush and wet meadows flora and vegetation in three ponds located in the city centre of Opole was conducted in years 2001–2013. Oxbow lakes were constructed as a compensation measure and no vegetation was transplanted into the ponds on purpose. 13-years observation showed that (1) the red-listed species are able to spontaneous reoccurrence after habitat restoration, but they can thrive only in first years of oxbow lakes recolonisation process, (2) there are some restoration constraints, especially in relati…
Le infrastrutture ecologiche come elemento funzionale nella gestione della biodiversità degli agrosistemi, con particolare riferimento al vigneto
2013
Molti studiosi, già da diverso tempo, hanno messo in risalto l’importanza della diversità vegetale negli agroecosistemi sull’aumento della presenza di artropodi utili che contribuiscono al contenimento delle specie dannose. In quest’ambito una strategia di difesa per mantenere alto il livello di biodiversità riguarda l’uso delle cosiddette “infrastrutture ecologiche” o “aree di compensazione ecologica”, cioè siepi o fasce di vegetazione adiacenti al campo coltivato o al suo che forniscono ospiti alternativi e siti rifugio per predatori e parassitoidi di insetti dannosi, aumentando in tal modo l’abbondanza dei nemici naturali e la colonizzazione delle colture confinanti. Alcuni lavori di cam…
Nitrogen and phosphorus budgets in experimental grasslands of variable diversity.
2007
Previous research has shown that plant diversity influences N and P cycles. However, the effect of plant diversity on complete ecosystem N and P budgets has not yet been assessed. For 20 plots of artificially established grassland mixtures differing in plant diversity, we determined N and P inputs by bulk and dry deposition and N and P losses by mowing (and subsequent removal of the biomass) and leaching from April 2003 to March 2004. Total deposition of N and P was 2.3 +/- 0.1 and 0.2 +/- 0.01 g m(-2) yr(-1), respectively. Mowing was the main N and P loss. The net N and P budgets were negative (-6.3 +/- 1.1 g N and -1.9 +/- 0.2 g P m(-2) yr(-1)). For N, this included a conservative estimat…
Does plant diversity influence phosphorus cycling in experimental grasslands?
2011
Plant diversity was shown to influence the N cycle, but plant diversity effects on other nutrients remain unclear. We tested whether plant species richness or the presence/absence of particular functional plant groups influences P partitioning among differently extractable pools in soil, P concentrations in soil solution, and exploitation of P resources (i.e. the proportion of total bioavailable P in plants and soil that was stored in aboveground biomass) by the plant community in a 5-year biodiversity experiment in grassland.The experimental grassland site established in 2002 had 82 plots with different combinations of numbers of species (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 60) and functional groups (grasses,…
Spatial Representation of Plant Diversity at Geographical Scale: The Italian Experience
2021
The first attempts to draw up plant biodiversity maps in Italy are identified, some of which represent re-workings of data collected for chorological atlases of geographic areas of different extents. These were based particularly on the UTM grid, introduced and codified in Italy by Pignatti [6]. The limited examples made in Italy concern regional, provincial or district areas, some also in protected natural areas. As examples considered original, the maps developed at the Phytotaxonomy and Phytogeography Laboratory of the University of Palermo are presented. These involve the province of Palermo, the Madonie Natural Park in Palermo province, and the eastern Sicani mountains. The map of this…