Traditional knowledge among Zapotecs of Sierra Madre Del Sur, Oaxaca. Does it represent a base for plant resources management and conservation?

ABSTRACT: Traditional classification systems represent cognitive processes of human cultures in the world. It synthesizes specific conceptions of nature, as well as cumulative learning, beliefs and customs that are part of a particular human community or society. Traditional knowledge has been analyzed from different viewpoints, one of which corresponds to the analysis of ethnoclassifications. In this work, a brief analysis of the botanical traditional knowledge among Zapotecs of the municipality of San Agustin Loxicha, Oaxaca was conducted. The purposes of this study were: a) to analyze the traditional ecological knowledge of local plant resources through the folk classification of both landscapes and plants and b) to determine the role that this knowledge has played in plant resource management and conservation. The study was developed in five communities of San Agustin Loxicha. From field trips, plant specimens were collected and showed to local people in order to get the Spanish or Zapotec names; through interviews with local people, we obtained names and identified classification categories of plants, vegetation units, and soil types. We found a logic structure in Zapotec plant names, based on linguistic terms, as well as morphological and ecological caracteristics. We followed the classification principles proposed by Berlin [6] in order to build a hierarchical structure of life forms, names and other characteristics mentioned by people. We recorded 757 plant names. Most of them (67%) have an equivalent Zapotec name and the remaining 33% had mixed names with Zapotec and Spanish terms. Plants were categorized as native plants, plants introduced in pre-Hispanic times, or plants introduced later. All of them are grouped in a hierarchical classification, which include life form, generic, specific, and varietal categories. Monotypic and polytypic names are used to further classify plants. This holistic classification system plays an important role for local people in many aspects: it helps to organize and make sense of the diversity, to understand the interrelation among plants-soil-vegetation and to classify their physical space since they relate plants with a particular vegetation unit and a kind of soil. The locals also make a rational use of these elements, because they know which crops can grow in any vegetation unit, or which places are indicated to recollect plants. These aspects are interconnected and could be fundamental for a rational use and management of plant resources.     

阿拉善荒漠区一年生植物层片物种多样性及其分布特征

一年生植物层片是阿拉善荒漠区荒漠与绿洲生态系统的恒有植物层片,对荒漠生态系统的稳定和当地畜牧业的生产都有重要作用．对该层片的物种多样性及其在群落中的分布特征分析表明,荒漠与绿洲生态系统中,一年生植物层片植物种有12科35属61种,可归为一年生小禾草、一年生猪毛菜、一年生蒿类和一年生杂类草4个类群,并可划分成12种区系地理成分,其中有10个阿拉善或近阿拉善特有种．一年生植物层片广泛分布于土质、沙砾质、沙质、砾质、石质、盐土荒漠及各种类型的绿洲群落中,常一种或几种组成层片,均匀或斑块状分布,或沿水线分布．此外,还分析和评价了一年生植物层片在群落中的分布差异、生态适应模式与功能．     

Macrofungal diversity and community ecology in mature and regrowth wet eucalypt forest in Tasmania: A multivariate study

Abstract The biodiversity of macrofungi in mature and young regrowth Tasmanian wet forests is described at the species level and at the community level. The macrofungal communities studied were much more species‐rich than their vascular plant counterparts, with the total number of macrofungal taxa outnumbering vascular plants by four to one. This ratio applied in both mature and young regrowth forest sites. Some 242 taxa of macrofungi were recorded, of which 132 were identified to species level, the remainder to species groups or higher taxa. Distinct communities could be discerned from multivariate analysis (ordination and classification) of vascular plant and macrofungal data from the mature and regrowth sites. The two vascular plant communities had different fire histories, and this difference is also assumed to account for the separation of the macrofungal communities of the two forest types. There was generally a high level of congruence between the vascular plant and the macrofungal communities. However, one young regrowth site, which was relatively close to the mature sites in the ordination space for the analysis of vascular plants, was distant from the mature forest sites for the analysis of macrofungi. Another regrowth site, which had experienced wildfire rather than silvicultural regeneration, clustered with mature sites for some analyses of the macrofungal assemblage. Variation in the macrofungal communities was correlated with a different set of the measured environmental variables than was variation in the vascular plant communities. Mature and young regrowth forests were found to have distinctly different macrofungal floras, with approximately 40% of the taxa in each forest type being restricted to that type of site. Suitable indicator taxa (restricted or preferential to particular forest types) for use in further studies are suggested.     

Changes in high arctic tundra plant reproduction in response to long‐term experimental warming

We provide new information on changes in tundra plant sexual reproduction in response to long‐term (12 years) experimental warming in the High Arctic. Open‐top chambers (OTCs) were used to increase growing season temperatures by 1–2 °C across a range of vascular plant communities. The warming enhanced reproductive effort and success in most species; shrubs and graminoids appeared to be more responsive than forbs. We found that the measured effects of warming on sexual reproduction were more consistently positive and to a greater degree in polar oasis compared with polar semidesert vascular plant communities. Our findings support predictions that long‐term warming in the High Arctic will likely enhance sexual reproduction in tundra plants, which could lead to an increase in plant cover. Greater abundance of vegetation has implications for primary consumers – via increased forage availability, and the global carbon budget – as a function of changes in permafrost and vegetation acting as a carbon sink. Enhanced sexual reproduction in Arctic vascular plants may lead to increased genetic variability of offspring, and consequently improved chances of survival in a changing environment. Our findings also indicate that with future warming, polar oases may play an important role as a seed source to the surrounding polar desert landscape.     

Plant community composition steers grassland vegetation via soil legacy effects

Soil legacy effects are commonly highlighted as drivers of plant community dynamics and species co‐existence. However, experimental evidence for soil legacy effects of conditioning plant communities on responding plant communities under natural conditions is lacking. We conditioned 192 grassland plots using six different plant communities with different ratios of grasses and forbs and for different durations. Soil microbial legacies were evident for soil fungi, but not for soil bacteria, while soil abiotic parameters did not significantly change in response to conditioning. The soil legacies affected the composition of the succeeding vegetation. Plant communities with different ratios of grasses and forbs left soil legacies that negatively affected succeeding plants of the same functional type. We conclude that fungal‐mediated soil legacy effects play a significant role in vegetation assembly of natural plant communities.     

Epigeic lichen communities of taiga and tundra regions

The major physiognomic and ecological categories of the lichen-rich, epigeic communities in the boreal (taiga) and arctic (tundra) zones are defined and their syntaxonomy and ecology in Europe, Asia and North America is reviewed. In the boreal and hemiarctic areas open, dry, acidophytic lichen woodlands are widespread, especially on sandy habitats. Their epigeic lichen synusiae are usually dominated by four fruticoseCladina species, being extremely homogeneous in species composition and structure throughout the boreal zone, while the dominant trees and the other vascular plant flora of the woodlands are geographically more variable. No phytosociological classification system exists that would cover most of these communities over the circumpolar regions. Very similar communities, though much more poorly known, are found on thin soils over Precambrian rock outcrops. Other sites to produce epigeic lichen communities include open sand dunes, treeless heathlands, drier bogs and many seral stages, like those on road banks. Boreal lichen-rich communities on eutrophic soils may be developed in semiarid regions, in particular. In the Arctic, lichens are common in most communities, and the driest ones are regularly lichen-dominated, whether acidophytic or eutrophytic, chionophytic or achionophytic. Detailed syntaxonomic systems for their classification have been developed, especially in Greenland and Scandinavian mountains (in oroarctic zones in the latter regions). The richest fruticose lichen areas are in continental, hemiarctic timberline regions in northern Siberia and Canada. The southern and middle arctic subzones are also characterized by many macrolichens, such asCetraria cucullata, C. nivalis, Alectoria ochroleuca, andThamnolia vermicularis, but everywhere also small, crustose lichens are common on soil, such asRinodina turfacea andLopadium pezizoideum, which are often overlooked in vegetation analyses. The presence of microlichens and the formation of mosaic micropatterns of soil lichen communities is particularly typical of the northern arctic subzone. The conservation problems of the boreal and arctic lichen communities include overgrazing by reindeer or caribou, which has caused delichenization in some regions, extensive forest and tundra fires, use of heavy transport vehicles in forestry and tundra operations, and, locally, heavy industrial air pollution.     

三十年来中国植物生态学和地植物学的回顾和展望

本文就以下几方面对我国植物生态学和地植物学作了回顾与展望。一、回顾：1．亚热带和热带森林区的植被研究。2．温带森林区的植被研究。3．温带草原区的植被研究。4．温带荒漠区的植被研究。5．青藏高寒高原区的植被研究。6．中国植被及其地理、分区和植被图研究。7．环境植物学的研究等。二,展望1．植被基本理论的研究2．植被图志的编制和植被制图学研究 3．栽培植物群落和经济植物生态学特性研究4．实验群落学和植物生理生态学研究5．陆地生态系统的结构和功能的研究6．环境保护的植物生态学研究7．植物和植物群落指示性研究     

Forest biomass,soil and biodiversity relationships originate from biogeographic affinity and direct ecological effects

Ecosystem biomass, soil conditions and the diversity of different taxa are often interrelated. These relationships could originate from biogeographic affinity (varying species pools) or from direct ecological effects within local communities. Disentangling regional and local causes is challenging as the former might mask the latter in natural ecosystems with varying habitat conditions. However, when the species pool contribution is considered in statistics, local ecological effects might be detected. In this study we disentangle the indirect effects of the species pool and direct ecological effects on the complex relationships among wood volume, soil conditions and diversities of different plant and fungal groups in 100 old‐growth forest sites (10 × 10 m) at the border of boreal and nemoral zones in northern Europe. We recorded all species for different vegetation groups: woody and herbaceous vascular plants, terricolous and epiphytic bryophytes and lichens. Fungal communities were detected by DNA‐based analyses from soil samples. Above‐ground wood volume was used as a proxy of biomass. We measured soil pH and nutrient content and obtained modelled climate parameters for each site. Species pool effect was considered by dividing sites into boreal and nemoral groups based on community composition. In order to disentangle direct and indirect effects, we applied variation partitioning, and raw and partial correlations. We found many significant positive relationships among studied variables. Many of these relationships were associated to boreal and nemoral species pools, thus indicating that biogeographic affinity of interacting plants and fungi largely defines forest diversity and functioning. At the same time, several relationships were significant also after considering biogeography: woody plant and ectomycorrhizal fungi diversities with wood volume, many plant and fungal groups with each other, or with soil conditions. These direct ecological interactions could be considered in forestry practices to achieve both economic gain and maintenance of biodiversity.     

Biodiversity Characterization in Nubra Valley, Ladakh with Special Reference to Plant Resource Conservation and Bioprospecting

Trans-Himalayan mountains, owing to harsh climatic conditions and a short growing season support low vegetation cover (<20%), yet it is known to harbour a unique assemblage of flora and fauna which have not been systematically inventoried and documented so far. This paper deals with spatial and non-spatial information on landscape units, vegetation characteristics and plant species diversity of Nubra Valley in Ladakh, India. Based on digital – visual (on screen) interpretation of remote sensing data coupled with knowledge-based classification we delineated 19 cover classes (11 vegetation types and 8 non-vegetation categories). The vascular plants (angiosperms and gymnosperms) were systematically collected using stratified random sampling of different landscape/vegetation to characterize plant communities and assess the distribution patterns of species. The study reveals that nearly 78–80% of plant species in Nubra are restricted to the valley bottoms. In all, 414 species of vascular plants were recorded from the study area. These belongs to 56 families and 202 genera. Of these, 102 species were reported to be used in traditional system of medicine by Amchis over 80 species are largely associated with cultivated fields and human habitation. As many as 49 species were cultivated which include several varieties of crop plants especially those of barley and buckwheat. Aspects of bioprospecting and conservation of valuable species have been discussed.     

Regional productivity mediates the effects of grazing disturbance on plant cover and patch‐size distribution in arid and semi‐arid communities

Patch‐size distribution and plant cover are strongly associated to arid ecosystem functioning and may be a warning signal for the onset of desertification under changes in disturbance regimes. However, the interaction between regional productivity level and human‐induced disturbance regime as drivers for vegetation structure and dynamics remain poorly studied. We studied grazing disturbance effects on plant cover and patchiness in three plant communities located along a regional productivity gradient in Patagonia (Argentina): a semi‐desert (low‐productivity community), a shrub‐grass steppe (intermediate‐productivity community) and a grass steppe (high‐productivity community). We sampled paddocks with different sheep grazing pressure (continuous disturbance gradients) in all three communities. In each paddock, the presence or absence of perennial vegetation was recorded every 10 cm along a 50 m transect. Grazing effects on vegetation structure depended on the community and its association to the regional productivity. Grazing decreased total plant cover while increasing both the frequency of small patches and the inter‐patch distance in all communities. However, the size of these effects was the greatest in the high‐productivity community. Dominant species responses to grazing explained vegetation patch‐ and inter‐patch‐size distribution patterns. As productivity decreases, dominant species showed a higher degree of grazing resistance, probably because traits of species adapted to high aridity allow them to resist herbivore disturbance. In conclusion, our findings suggest that regional productivity mediates grazing disturbance impacts on vegetation mosaic. The changes within the same range of grazing pressure have higher effects on communities found in environments with higher productivity, markedly promoting their desertification. Understanding the complex interactions between environmental aridity and human‐induced disturbances is a key aspect for maintaining patchiness structure and dynamics, which has important implications for drylands management.     

What are the organismic elements of vegetation science?

The recent inclusion of communities of planktonic algae and microbial crusts into the system of European vegetation types is critically discussed. It is argued that formal vegetation classification should be limited to plant taxa represented by macroscopic individuals within a plot, including all vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, charophyta and macrophytic chlorophyta, rhodophyta or phaeophyta. In the interest of comparability and methodological stringency, all microscopic algae and all prokaryotes, including cyanobacteria, and the habitats dominated by such microorganisms (e.g. plankton, biofilms and crusts), should be excluded from vegetation classification.     

Riparian vegetation: degradation, alien plant invasions, and restoration prospects

Rivers are conduits for materials and energy; this, the frequent and intense disturbances that these systems experience, and their narrow, linear nature, create problems for conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the face of increasing human influence. In most parts of the world, riparian zones are highly modified. Changes caused by alien plants — or environmental changes that facilitate shifts in dominance creating novel ecosystems — are often important agents of perturbation in these systems. Many restoration projects are underway. Objective frameworks based on an understanding of biogeographical processes at different spatial scales (reach, segment, catchment), the specific relationships between invasive plants and resilience and ecosystem functioning, and realistic endpoints are needed to guide sustainable restoration initiatives. This paper examines the biogeography and the determinants of composition and structure of riparian vegetation in temperate and subtropical regions and conceptualizes the components of resilience in these systems. We consider changes to structure and functioning caused by, or associated with, alien plant invasions, in particular those that lead to breached abiotic‐ or biotic thresholds. These pose challenges when formulating restoration programmes. Pervasive and escalating human‐mediated changes to multiple factors and at a range of scales in riparian environments demand innovative and pragmatic approaches to restoration. The application of a new framework accommodating such complexity is demonstrated with reference to a hypothetical riparian ecosystem under three scenarios: (1) system unaffected by invasive plants; (2) system initially uninvaded, but with flood‐generated incursion of alien plants and escalating invasion‐driven alteration; and (3) system affected by both invasions and engineering interventions. The scheme has been used to derive a decision‐making framework for restoring riparian zones in South Africa and could guide similar initiatives in other parts of the world.     

A resampling approach for evaluating effects of pasture abandonment on subalpine plant species diversity

Abstract. The decline of species‐rich semi‐natural calcareous grasslands is a major conservation problem throughout Europe. Maintenance of traditional animal husbandry is often recommended as an important management strategy. However, results that underpin such management recommendations were derived predominantly from lowland studies and may not be easily applicable to high mountain areas. In this study we analyse the importance of traditional low‐intensity summer farming (cattle grazing) for vascular plant species diversity of a subalpine region in the northern calcareous Alps in Austria by resampling from an existing dataset on its vegetation. Results indicate a significant long term decline of plant species diversity following abandonment at the landscape scale. In contrast, within‐community effects of pasture abandonment on plant species diversity are equivocal and strongly depend on the plant community. We suppose these differences to be due to diet preferences of cattle as well as to the differential importance of competition for structuring the respective communities. From our results we infer that the main mechanism by which pasture abandonment affects vascular plant species diversity, at least during the first ca. 100 yr documented here, are not local‐scale competitive exclusion processes within persisting communities. Instead, post‐abandonment successional community displacements that cause a landscape scale homogenization of the vegetation cover seem to be primarily responsible for a decline of species diversity. We conclude, that successful management of vascular plant species diversity in subalpine regions of the Northeastern Calcareous Alps will depend on the maintenance of large scale pasture systems with a spatially variable disturbance regime.     

Effects of plant diversity and structural complexity on parasitoid behaviour in a field experiment

1. In natural ecosystems, plants containing hosts for parasitoids are often embedded within heterogeneous plant communities. These plant communities surrounding host‐infested plants may influence the host‐finding ability of parasitoids. 2. A release‐recapture‐approach was used to examine whether the diversity and structural complexity of the community surrounding a host‐infested plant influences the aggregation behaviour of the leaf‐miner parasitoid Dacnusa sibirica Telenga and naturally occurring local leaf‐miner parasitoids. Released and locally present parasitoids were collected on potted Jacobaea vulgaris Gaertn.plants infested with the generalist leaf‐miner Chromatomyia syngenesiae Hardy. The plants were placed in experimentally established plant communities differing in plant diversity (1–9 species) and habitat complexity (bare ground, mown vegetation, and tall vegetation). Additionally, parasitoids were reared out from host mines on the trap plants. 3. Plant diversity did not influence the mean number of recaptured D. sibirica or captures of other locally present parasitoids but the number of recaptured parasitoids was influenced by habitat complexity. No D. sibirica parasitoids were recaptured in the bare ground plots or plots with mown vegetation. The mean number of recaptured D. sibirica generally increased with increasing complexity of the plant community, whereas locally present parasitoids were captured more frequently in communities with more bare ground. There was a unimodal relationship between the number of reared out parasitoids and diversity of the surrounding vegetation with the highest density of emerged parasitoids at intermediate diversity levels. 4. The present study adds to the thus far limited body of literature examining the aggregation behaviour of parasitoids in the field and suggests that the preference of parasitoids to aggregate in complex versus simple vegetation is association specific and thus depends on the parasitoid species as well as the identity of the plant community.     

Moss and vascular plant indices in Ohio wetlands have similar environmental predictors

Mosses and vascular plants have been shown to be reliable indicators of wetland habitat delineation and environmental quality. Knowledge of the best ecological predictors of the quality of wetland moss and vascular plant communities may determine if similar management practices would simultaneously enhance both populations. We used Akaike's Information Criterion to identify models predicting a moss quality assessment index (MQAI) and a vascular plant index of biological integrity based on floristic quality (VIBI-FQ) from 27 emergent and 13 forested wetlands in Ohio, USA. The set of predictors included the six metrics from a wetlands disturbance index (ORAM) and two landscape development intensity indices (LDIs). The best single predictor of MQAI and one of the predictors of VIBI-FQ was an ORAM metric that assesses habitat alteration and disturbance within the wetland, such as mowing, grazing, and agricultural practices. However, the best single predictor of VIBI-FQ was an ORAM metric that assessed wetland vascular plant communities, interspersion, and microtopography. LDIs better predicted MQAI than VIBI-FQ, suggesting that mosses may either respond more rapidly to, or recover more slowly from, anthropogenic disturbance in the surrounding landscape than vascular plants. These results supported previous predictive studies on amphibian indices and metrics and a separate vegetation index, indicating that similar wetland management practices may result in qualitatively the same ecological response for three vastly different wetland biological communities (amphibians, vascular plants, and mosses).     

Are habitat types compatible with floristically‐derived associations?

Abstract. The habitat type system developed by R. Daubenmire has been widely adopted throughout the western United States. Habitat types result from a site classification derived from the classification of late seral plant communities using selected indicator species. It has been suggested that the classification of late successional vegetation used to derive habitat types does not substantially differ from phytosociological classification in the sense of Braun‐Blanquet approach, and that habitat types can be adopted in their present form into floristically‐based vegetation classifications. Despite the many commonalities between the two systems, however, the classification methods, and specifically the use of indicator species in the habitat type system, yield a significantly different classification than the phytosociological approach. This is demonstrated in the comparison of a habitat type classification with the results of a recent phytosociological classification of forest vegetation in the northern Salish Mountains of Montana.