NDLI: Impacts of water stress removal and disturbance regimes on Mediterranean dry grasslands diversity and succession

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Masson, Solène Gauvain, Matthieu Mesléard, François Dutoit, Thierry
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	Our goal was to disentangle the effects of stress removal and disturbance on plant communities of a Mediterranean rangeland, La Crau (southeastern France). We compared undisturbed reference steppe vegetation with vegetation impacted by changes in land use such as earlier phases of cultivation (dating back 20 years) and/or current water infiltrations (revealed by the presence of Brachypodium phœnicoïdes), since the establishment of adjacent hay meadows. We considered plots with and without brambles (Rubus ulmifolius), an indigenous shrub species that had colonized the area after the land-use changes. We monitored the composition and measured the taxonomic richness and richness of functional groups, evenness and similarities of plant communities. The species richness of the undisturbed community was significantly higher than that of all disturbed plant communities. Although cultivation led to the dominance of ruderal species, the removal of water stress had a stronger negative impact, enabling the establishment of herbaceous competitor species such as B. phœnicoïdes. The dominance of this species resulted in a significant decline in species richness and evenness after water stress removal. The presence of brambles correlating with former cultivation and/or current water infiltration did not have a significant impact on plant species richness in the vicinity of bramble bushes, although it significantly modified the composition of the adjacent herbaceous vegetation. Our study highlights again the low resilience of Mediterranean dry grasslands after disturbance. While both the disturbance and the water stress removal resulted in changes within the plant community, our findings reveal a stronger impact of the water stress removal. Water infiltration led to decreased plant species richness and evenness because the greater availability of water favored competitor species over the stress-tolerant xeric species. Therefore, for restoring the original steppe species richness, the priority will be to control water infiltrations, even before any scrub-clearing is undertaken to control bramble colonization.
Starting Page	1351
Ending Page	1369
Page Count	19
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13850237
Journal	Plant Ecology
Volume Number	216
Issue Number	10
e-ISSN	15735052
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2015-09-04
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Herbaceous ecosystems Vegetation dynamics Rubus ulmifolius Ecological restoration Alterations Plant composition Plant Sciences
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology Plant Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Herbaceous plant richness and vegetation cover in Mediterranean grasslands and shrublands

Using Shrub Clearing, Draining, and Herbivory to Control Bramble Invasion in Mediterranean Dry Grasslands

The response of Mediterranean herbaceous community to soil disturbance by native wild boars

Plant species richness and spatial organization at different small scales in western Mediterranean landscapes

Simulating Mediterranean landscape pattern and vegetation dynamics under different fire regimes

Herbivory, litter and soil disturbance as determinants of vegetation dynamics during early old-field succession under set-aside

Woody plant invasions and restoration in forests of island ecosystems: lessons from Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile

Linking Restoration and Ecological Succession

Quantifying climate change impacts on plant functional composition and soil nitrogen fixation in Mediterranean grasslands

Impacts of water stress removal and disturbance regimes on Mediterranean dry grasslands diversity and succession

Similar Documents

Herbaceous plant richness and vegetation cover in Mediterranean grasslands and shrublands

Using Shrub Clearing, Draining, and Herbivory to Control Bramble Invasion in Mediterranean Dry Grasslands

The response of Mediterranean herbaceous community to soil disturbance by native wild boars

Plant species richness and spatial organization at different small scales in western Mediterranean landscapes

Simulating Mediterranean landscape pattern and vegetation dynamics under different fire regimes

Herbivory, litter and soil disturbance as determinants of vegetation dynamics during early old-field succession under set-aside

Woody plant invasions and restoration in forests of island ecosystems: lessons from Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile

Linking Restoration and Ecological Succession

Quantifying climate change impacts on plant functional composition and soil nitrogen fixation in Mediterranean grasslands

Impacts of water stress removal and disturbance regimes on Mediterranean dry grasslands diversity and succession