Patterns of Plant Species Diversity in Remnant and Restored Tallgrass Prairies

To restore diversity of native vegetation, we must understand factors responsible for diversity in targeted communities. These factors operate at different spatial scales and may affect the number and relative abundances of species differently. We measured diversity of plant species and functional groups of species in replicated plots within paired restored and remnant (relic) tallgrass prairies at three locations in central Texas, U.S.A. To determine the contributions of species abundances and of spatial patterns of diversity to differences between prairie types, we separated diversity into richness and evenness (relative biomass) and into within‐plot (α), among‐plot (β), and prairie (γ) components. Species diversity was greater in remnant than in restored prairies at all spatial scales. At the γ scale, both species richness and species evenness were greater in remnants because of greater spatial variation in species composition. At the α scale, remnants were more diverse because of greater richness alone. Mean α richness correlated positively with the size of the species pool in restored prairies only, implying that in remnants, α richness was influenced more by colonization dynamics than by the number of species available for colonization. Plots in remnant prairies contained more functional groups and fewer species per group than did plots in restored prairies, suggesting that resource partitioning was greater in relic prairies. Our results are consistent with the interpretation that local ecological processes, like resource partitioning and limitations on seed dispersal, contribute to the greater diversity of remnant than restored prairies in central Texas. Restoration practices that limit abundances of competitive dominants, increase the number of species in seed mixtures, and increase the proximity of plants of different functional groups thus may be required to better simulate the plant diversity of tallgrass prairies.     

Recovery of Native Plant Community Characteristics on a Chronosequence of Restored Prairies Seeded into Pastures in West‐Central Iowa

Restored grasslands comprise an ever‐increasing proportion of grasslands in North America and elsewhere. However, floristic studies of restored grasslands indicate that our ability to restore plant communities is limited. Our goal was to assess the effectiveness of restoration seeding for recovery of key plant community components on former exotic, cool‐season pastures using a chronosequence of six restoration sites and three nearby remnant tallgrass prairie sites in West‐Central Iowa. We assessed trends in Simpson's diversity and evenness, richness and abundance of selected native and exotic plant guilds, and mean coefficient of conservatism (mean C). Simpson's diversity and evenness and perennial invasive species abundance all declined with restoration site age. As a group, restoration sites had greater richness of native C₃ species with late phenology, but lower richness and abundance of species with early phenology relative to remnant sites. Total native richness, total native abundance (cover), mean C, and abundance of late phenology C₃ plants were similar between restoration and remnant sites. Observed declines in diversity and evenness with restoration age reflect increases in C₄ grass abundance rather than absolute decreases in the abundance of perennial C₃ species. In contrast to other studies, restoration seeding appears to have led to successful establishment of tallgrass prairie species that were likely to be included in seeding mixtures. While several floristic measures indicate convergence of restoration and remnant sites, biodiversity may be further enhanced by including early phenology species in seeding mixes in proportion to their abundance on remnant prairies.     

Patterns of Species Richness and Composition in Re-Created Grassland

The success of many prairie restorations is not well documented. A restoration begun in 1975 at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois allows assessment of restoration efforts as well as changes through time. Data are presented on species richness and composition for 13 restorations planted in successive years between 1975 and 1990 and two remnant prairies. Presence of species was recorded using a stratified random design. Species richness at several scales and non‐metric multidimensional scaling ordination were used to assess trends in the vegetation. Species richness declined through time at all scales examined and was always less in the restored prairies than that found in the remnant prairies. Species composition changed with time but not in the direction of the composition found in the remnants. Our understanding of the maintenance of species richness is not sufficient to allow the re‐creation of patterns of species found in remnant grassland communities.     

Dominant Grasses Suppress Local Diversity in Restored Tallgrass Prairie

Warm‐season (C₄) grasses commonly dominate tallgrass prairie restorations, often at the expense of subordinate grasses and forbs that contribute most to diversity in this ecosystem. To assess whether the cover and abundance of dominant grass species constrain plant diversity, we removed 0, 50, or 100% of tillers of two dominant species (Andropogon gerardii or Panicum virgatum) in a 7‐year‐old prairie restoration. Removing 100% of the most abundant species, A. gerardii, significantly increased light availability, forb productivity, forb cover, species richness, species evenness, and species diversity. Removal of a less abundant but very common species, P. virgatum, did not significantly affect resource availability or the local plant community. We observed no effect of removal treatments on critical belowground resources, including inorganic soil N or soil moisture. Species richness was inversely correlated with total grass productivity and percent grass cover and positively correlated with light availability at the soil surface. These relationships suggest that differential species richness among removal treatments resulted from treatment induced differences in aboveground resources rather than the belowground resources. Selective removal of the dominant species A. gerardii provided an opportunity for seeded forb species to become established leading to an increase in species richness and diversity. Therefore, management practices that target reductions in cover or biomass of the dominant species may enhance diversity in established and grass‐dominated mesic grassland restorations.     

Species abundances influence the net biodiversity effect in mixtures of two plant species

Species abundances (evenness or identity of the dominant species in mixtures) usually are not rigorously controlled when testing relationships between plant production and species richness and may be highly dynamic in disturbed or early successional communities. Changes in species abundances may affect the yield of mixtures relative to yields expected from species monocultures [the net biodiversity effect (NBE)] by changing how species that differ in function are distributed in the plant community. To test the prediction that variation in species abundances affects the NBE via changes in the expression of functional differences among species (the complementarity effect), we grew perennial grasses and forbs in field plots in central Texas, USA, as equal-density monocultures and two-species mixtures in which relative abundances of species were varied. Function should differ more consistently between species of different growth forms than of the same growth form. We predicted, therefore, that the complementarity effect and influence of species abundances on the NBE would be more pronounced in grass/forb mixtures than in mixtures with species of the same growth form (grass/grass and forb/forb mixtures). The NBE varied with species evenness in two of the six species pairs studied and with identity of the dominant species in a third species combination. The NBE was sensitive to species proportions in both grass/grass and grass/forb assemblages. In all combinations in which the NBE differed with either evenness or identity of the dominant species, the variation resulted largely from change in the complementarity effect. Our results suggest that the NBE of mixtures is sensitive to effects of species ratios on complementarity.     

Effects of species evenness and dominant species identity on multiple ecosystem functions in model grassland communities

Ecosystems provide multiple services upon which humans depend. Understanding the drivers of the ecosystem functions that support these services is therefore important. Much research has investigated how species richness influences functioning, but we lack knowledge of how other community attributes affect ecosystem functioning. Species evenness, species spatial arrangement, and the identity of dominant species are three attributes that could affect ecosystem functioning, by altering the relative abundance of functional traits and the probability of synergistic species interactions such as facilitation and complementary resource use. We tested the effect of these three community attributes and their interactions on ecosystem functions over a growing season, using model grassland communities consisting of three plant species from three functional groups: a grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum), a forb (Plantago lanceolata), and a N-fixing forb (Lotus corniculatus). We measured multiple ecosystem functions that support ecosystem services, including ecosystem gas exchange, water retention, C and N loss in leachates, and plant biomass production. Species evenness and dominant species identity strongly influenced the ecosystem functions measured, but spatial arrangement had few effects. By the end of the growing season, evenness consistently enhanced ecosystem functioning and this effect occurred regardless of dominant species identity. The identity of the dominant species under which the highest level of functioning was attained varied across the growing season. Spatial arrangement had the weakest effect on functioning, but interacted with dominant species identity to affect some functions. Our results highlight the importance of understanding the role of multiple community attributes in driving ecosystem functioning.     

Temporal stability of pond zooplankton assemblages

1. A large body of recent theory has recently developed focused on the relationship between the species diversity of competitor assemblages and the temporal stability of total competitor biomass. Many of these models predict that stability can increase with increasing diversity. 2. To explore natural relationships between zooplankton taxonomic diversity and temporal stability of total zooplankton biomass, 18 fishless, permanent ponds located in southern Michigan were surveyed over a 5 month period during a single growing season. 3. Results showed that temporal variability in total zooplankton biomass (measured as the coefficient of variation or CV) decreased with increasing mean zooplankton taxonomic richness. Thus, temporal stability increased with increasing taxonomic richness, consistent with theoretical predictions. 4. Decreases in the CV appeared to be because of portfolio effects (statistical averaging of species’ biomass fluctuations) rather than negative covariances among zooplankton taxa. 5. The CV of zooplankton biomass was also related to several environmental variables, suggesting that taxonomic richness may not be the only mediator of biomass stability. The CV decreased with increasing relative abundance of grazer‐resistant algae (algae >35 μm in size) and the CV increased with increasing pond productivity.     

Differential effects of two dominant plant species on community structure and invasibility in an old-field ecosystem

Aims In this study, we examined the effects of Solidago altissima (hereafter Solidago) and two species in the genus Verbesina, Verbesina virginica and Verbesina occidentalis (hereafter Verbesina), on the structure of an old-field plant community and establishment by an invasive plant species, Lespedeza cuneata (hereafter Lespedeza).Methods We removed Solidago, Verbesina and both Solidago and Verbesina from 4-m 2 plots in an intact old-field community during two growing seasons. We then quantified the effects of these removals on richness, evenness, diversity and composition of the subdominant plant community. We also measured the total aboveground biomass and the aboveground biomass of the subdominant community. To assess how these removals affected establishment by Lespedeza, we planted 20 seeds in each plot and tracked seedling emergence and survival for one growing season.Important findings Subdominant community evenness and Shannon diversity were higher in plots from which Solidago and Verbesina were removed relative to control plots. However, there were no effects of dominant species removal on species richness or composition of the subdominant community. Total aboveground biomass was not affected by dominant species removal, suggesting that the community of subdominant species exhibited compensation. In fact, subdominant community biomass was greater when Solidago, but not Verbesina, was removed. Light availability was also greater in plots where Solidago was removed relative to control plots throughout the growing season. In addition, removal of dominant species, in particular Solidago, indirectly reduced the emergence, but not survival, of Lespedeza seedlings by directly promoting subdominant community biomass. Taken together, our results suggest that dominant old-field plant species affect subdominant community structure and indirectly promote establishment by Lespedeza .     

Recovery of mammal diversity in tropical forests: a functional approach to measuring restoration

Ecological restoration is increasingly applied in tropical forests to mitigate biodiversity loss and recover ecosystem functions. In restoration ecology, functional richness, rather than species richness, often determines community assembly, and measures of functional diversity provide a mechanistic link between diversity and ecological functioning of restored habitat. Vertebrate animals are important for ecosystem functioning. Here, we examine the functional diversity of small‐to‐medium sized mammals to evaluate the diversity and functional recovery of tropical rainforest. We assess how mammal species diversity and composition and functional diversity and composition, vary along a restoration chronosequence from degraded pasture to “old‐growth” tropical rainforest in the Wet Tropics of Australia. Species richness, diversity, evenness, and abundance did not vary, but total mammal biomass and mean species body mass increased with restoration age. Species composition in restoration forests converged on the composition of old‐growth rainforest and diverged from pasture with increasing restoration age. Functional metrics provided a clearer pattern of recovery than traditional species metrics, with most functional metrics significantly increasing with restoration age when taxonomic‐based metrics did not. Functional evenness and dispersion increased significantly with restoration age, suggesting that niche complementarity enhances species' abundances in restored sites. The change in community composition represented a functional shift from invasive, herbivorous, terrestrial habitat generalists and open environment specialists in pasture and young restoration sites, to predominantly endemic, folivorous, arboreal, and fossorial forest species in older restoration sites. This shift has positive implications for conservation and demonstrates the potential of tropical forest restoration to recover rainforest‐like, diverse faunal communities.     

Patterns in woody species diversity, richness and partitioning of diversity in forest communities of tropical deciduous forest biome

The regressive succession model hypothesizes tropical savanna-woodlands to be a degraded stage of primary deciduous forests. Species diversity, richness and evenness of woody species in savanna-woodlands, secondary deciduous forests and mature deciduous forests of central India were compared to test if the regressive succession explained pattern in species richness, diversity, functional diversity and basal area. At the plot scale (0.1 ha) secondary deciduous forests and savanna-woodlands had similar species diversity, a pattern not consistent with the regressive model of deciduous forest succession, and mature deciduous forests had greater species diversity and richness (p<0.05). When examined at a larger scale or community scale by pooling all plots within a community type, the trend in diversity persisted even with greater effort allocated to sampling of secondary deciduous forests. Species richness at the community scale was greatest in secondary deciduous forest as expected from species area relationship. The communities shared 28 woody species but the species composition was significantly different between the communities. I suggest that conservation of tropical deciduous forests based on regressive succession model is problematic.     

High Plant Richness in Prairie Reconstructions Support Diverse Leafhopper Communities

A primary reason for restoring plant communities is to increase biodiversity to previous levels. It is expected that restoring land with greater plant diversity will increase biodiversity at higher trophic levels, but high diversity seed mixes are expensive. In this study, we used one insect family, leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) to assess the difference in leafhopper communities that result from establishing high compared with low plant richness restorations. We tested the hypotheses that: (1) the added effort of a high richness restoration leads to measurable increases in both diversity and richness of leafhoppers; and (2) that leafhopper community composition is more similar to remnant prairies in high richness than in low plant richness restorations. We found that higher plant richness led to 3‐ to 7‐fold increases in leafhopper and prairie‐dependent leafhopper diversity and richness in restorations. Leafhopper communities in high richness restorations were not more similar to remnant prairies, rather they were distinct among high and low richness restorations and prairie interior. Leafhopper richness and diversity correlated with plant richness, and leafhopper community composition differed among plant community assemblages, but not with the occurrence of single plant species. For our sites, species‐rich restorations provided better quality habitat for leafhoppers that was comparable to remnant prairie. Our results suggest that restorations with high plant species richness better support animal food webs.     

Determinants of species evenness in a neotropical bat ensemble

Evenness is an important property of communities. Species richness alone does not capture the fact that one or a few species may dominate total abundance and biomass of a community. This in turn has important consequences for ecosystem functioning and species interactions. Evenness has been observed to vary systematically along environmental and productivity gradients. However, a truly general theory about which factors control evenness in a community has yet to emerge. Prior research on evenness has suggested that high richness, biomass and abundance should lead to lower community evenness in our study system of bats in Panama. However, only few empirical studies examine the simultaneous effects of species richness, biomass or abundance on evenness. For the first time, we applied path analysis in the study of evenness to tease apart the relative importance and direction (positive or negative) of causality among these three factors. As predicted, we found that evenness decreases with increasing species richness, abundance and biomass. The negative effect of abundance was mediated by the positive joint effect of biomass and richness. The selected models varied in the strength of the correlation between the three variables with evenness but their direction was consistent. Overall, we argue that rarity, high mobility and differences in resource availability at sites with lower environmental stress can explain the negative effects of richness on evenness.     

Inoculation with remnant prairie soils increased the growth of three native prairie legumes but not necessarily their associations with beneficial soil microbes

Restoring the diversity of plant species found in remnant communities is a challenge for restoration practitioners, in part because many reintroduced plant species fail to establish in restored sites. Legumes establish particularly poorly, perhaps because they depend on two guilds of soil microbial mutualists, rhizobial bacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, that may be absent from restored sites. We tested the effect of soil microorganisms from remnant and restored prairies on legume growth by inoculating seedlings of Lespedeza capitata, Amorpha canescens, and Dalea purpurea with soil from 10 restored prairies and 6 remnant (untilled) prairies from southwest Michigan. We generally found support for the hypothesis that restored prairie soils lack microbes that enhance prairie plant growth, although there was variation across species and mutualist guilds. All three legumes grew larger and two legumes (Lespedeza and Amorpha) produced more nodules when inoculated with soil from remnant prairies, suggesting that low quantity and/or quality of rhizobial partners may limit the establishment of those species in restored prairies. In contrast, no legume experienced greater root colonization by AM fungi in remnant prairie soils, suggesting equivalent quantity (but not necessarily quality) of fungal partners in remnant and restored prairie soils. We detected no evidence of spontaneous recovery of the community of beneficial soil microbes in restorations. These results suggest that the absence of rhizobia, a largely overlooked component of prairie soils, could play a strong role in limiting restored prairie diversity by hindering legume establishment. Active reintroduction of appropriate rhizobial strains could enhance prairie restoration outcomes.     

Effects of plant species richness and evenness on soil microbial community diversity and function

Understanding the links between plant diversity and soil communities is critical to disentangling the mechanisms by which plant communities modulate ecosystem function. Experimental plant communities varying in species richness, evenness, and density were established using a response surface design and soil community properties including bacterial and archaeal abundance, richness, and evenness were measured. The potential to perform a representative soil ecosystem function, oxidation of ammonium to nitrite, was measured via archaeal and bacterial amoA genes. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the direct and indirect effects of the plant community on soil diversity and potential function. Plant communities influenced archaea and bacteria via different pathways. Species richness and evenness had significant direct effects on soil microbial community structure, but the mechanisms driving these effects did not include either root biomass or the pools of carbon and nitrogen available to the soil microbial community. Species richness had direct positive effects on archaeal amoA prevalence, but only indirect impacts on bacterial communities through modulation of plant evenness. Increased plant evenness increased bacterial abundance which in turn increased bacterial amoA abundance. These results suggest that plant community evenness may have a strong impact on some aspects of soil ecosystem function. We show that a more even plant community increased bacterial abundance, which then increased the potential for bacterial nitrification. A more even plant community also increased total dissolved nitrogen in the soil, which decreased the potential for archaeal nitrification. The role of plant evenness in structuring the soil community suggests mechanisms including complementarity in root exudate profiles or root foraging patterns.     

灌丛化对黄土高原草地植物群落结构和地上生物量的影响

中国北方草地普遍出现灌丛化现象,灌丛化改变植物群落结构、植物多样性和生产力,直接影响着草地生态保护与可持续利用.该研究以黄土高原灌丛化草地为研究对象,通过植被调查,分析比较不同坡向的灌丛斑块与禾草斑块植物群落结构(物种组成、优势种及物种多样性)和地上生物量的差异.结果发现:(1)灌丛化草地不同坡向对物种多样性及地上生物...     

浙江仙居俞坑森林群落物种多样性研究

分别采用物种丰富度、物种多样性指数和群落均匀度指标对浙江省仙居县俞坑森林群落的物种多样性进行测定和分析。结果表明：本木植物的物种多样性以生境优越的常绿阔叶林为高,木本植物的物种丰富度、物种多样性指数明显大于草本植物。在群落垂直结构中,木本植物等2层的物种丰富度、物种多样性指数均显著大于第1层。物种丰富度以木本第3层最大,草本层最小;而物种多样性指数、群落均匀度则以木本第2层最大、草本层最小。木本植物各层次、草本层的物种多样性各项指标在群落各样地间均有一定的差异。     

茂县土地岭植被恢复过程中物种多样性动态特征

植被恢复是退化生态系统重建的重要途径,植被恢复过程物种多样性的变化反映了植被的恢复程度.通过群落调查和多样性分析,研究了岷江上游土地岭植被恢复过程中群落物种多样性特征.结果表明： 恢复过程中6类不同类型群落分别表现其对于不同环境特征、干扰及更新方式等的响应;森林是较灌丛更适合当地环境状况的植被类型;人工恢复无干扰和轻度干扰群落的多样性相对较高,是较好的恢复模式.重度干扰使得1年生植物与地下芽植物比例增加,其它口食性较好的多年生草本减少.较强的干扰是群落无法更新、长期处于灌丛阶段且多样性较低的重要原因.本地区人工恢复群落在更新进程和多样性维持上优于自然更新群落,种植华山松加速了本地区植被演替进程.建议以适合恢复区域的多种恢复配置方式进行造林,并避免较强干扰,可以加速群落演替进程并保持恢复群落较高的物种丰富度与多样性.     

高寒草甸植物群落中相似性、物种多样性与地上生物量的年际变异性

相似性似说通过物种构成的相似性来解释物种丧失是如何影响生物量的变异性的,但还没有得到检验。本研究通过设置在青藏高原东部地区的高寒草甸植物群落中的74个永久样方．采集3年(1999～2001)植物生长高峰期的群落数据,试图检验物种构成的相似性是如何解释物种多样性对地上生物量年际变异性的影响。结果表明：随着物种丰富度增加,生物量变异性降低;而随着均匀度的增加,生物量的变异性尽管在均匀度中等程度时似乎保持在同一水平,但总体上呈下降趋势;物种构成上的相似性解释了地上生物量变异性的大部分,而且随着物种构成上的相似性的增加,生物量的变异性降低;物种丰富度和均匀度均与物种构成上的相似性没有显著相关关系。这些结果表明：尽管生物多样性的丧失可能不必导致物种丰富群落中物种构成上的相似性,但相似性与地上生物量的变异性的因果联系可能是稳健的．由于本研究是在自然群落中进行的,对物种构成的相似性没有进行直接控制,因此,要深入理解相似性是如何影响生物多样性对生态系统功能变异性的效应的机制,可能还需要直接对物种构成的相似性进行控制的实验研究。     

Dominant species,rather than diversity,regulates temporal stability of plant communities

A growing body of empirical evidence suggests that the temporal stability of communities typically increases with diversity. The counterview to this is that dominant species, rather than diversity itself, might regulate temporal stability. However, empirical studies that have explicitly examined the relative importance of diversity and dominant species in maintaining community stability have yielded few clear-cut patterns. Here, using a long-term data set, we examined the relative importance of changes in diversity components and dominance hierarchy following the removal of a dominant C4 grass, Bouteloua gracilis, in stabilizing plant communities. We also examined the relationships between the variables of diversity and dominance hierarchy and the statistical components of temporal stability. We found a significant negative relationship between temporal stability and species richness, number of rare species, and relative abundance of rare species, whereas a significant positive relationship existed between temporal stability and relative abundance of the dominant species. Variances and covariances summed over all species significantly increased with increasing species richness, whereas they significantly decreased with increasing relative abundance of dominant species. We showed that temporal stability in a shortgrass steppe plant community was controlled by dominant species rather than by diversity itself. The generality of diversity–stability relationships might be restricted by the dynamics of dominant species, especially when they have characteristics that contribute to stability in highly stochastic systems. A clear implication is that dominance hierarchies and their changes might be among the most important ecological components to consider in managing communities to maintain ecosystem functioning.     

Restoring plant species diversity and community composition in a ponderosa pine-bunchgrass ecosystem

Monitoring of ecological restoration treatments often focuses on changes in community structure and function. We suggest that long-term changes in community composition also need to be explicitly considered when evaluating the success of restoration treatments. In 1992, we initiated an experiment in a ponderosa pine-bunchgrass ecosystem to evaluate responses to restoration treatments: (a) thinning the overstory vegetation (‘thinning’), (b) thinning plus forest floor manipulation with periodic prescribed burning (‘composite’), and (c) untreated ‘control.’ Treatments were further stratified by forest patch type: presettlement tree clumps (trees that established prior to the onset of fire exclusion in 1876), patches of retained postsettlement trees, patches where all postsettlement trees were removed, and remnant grass openings. Species richness did not differ among treatments for 10 years, but was highest in the composite treatment in 11th and 12th year after initial treatment. Community composition diverged among treatments 5 years after initial treatment, and compositional changes were greatest in the composite treatment. Species richness and composition differed among patch types prior to treatment. Remnant grass patches were the most diverse and presettlement patches were the least diverse. Following treatment, species richness in the postsettlement removed and retained patches, gradually approached levels found in remnant grass patches. Compositional differences among patch types changed a little by 2005. Species richness at the 2 m² scale increased only where the overstory was thinned and the understory was burned. However, these changes may not be detectable for many years, and can vary temporally in response to events such as severe droughts. Nonnative species establishment may be reduced by scheduling longer burn intervals or by refraining from burning where fuel loads are not hazardous, though these options may hinder goals of increasing diversity. Restoring species diversity and community composition continues to be more difficult than restoring ecosystem structure and function.