Original paper
Functional diversity and ecological requirements of alpine vegetation types in a biogeographical transition zone
García-Gutiérrez, Teresa; Jiménez-Alfaro, Borja; Fernández-Pascual, Eduardo; Müller, Jonas V.
Phytocoenologia Band 48 Heft 1 (2018), p. 77 - 89
63 references
published: Mar 1, 2018
manuscript accepted: Oct 13, 2017
final revised version received: Sep 29, 2017
manuscript revision requested: Mar 16, 2017
manuscript received: Jan 23, 2017
ArtNo. ESP024004801004, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Abstract Aims: We investigate how floristically-defined vegetation types that co-occur in the alpine landscape of a biogeographical transition zone differ in functional diversity and ecological requirements, and how the observed patterns help in understanding the response of alpine vegetation to environmental filters and climate change. Location: Picos de Europa National Park, northern Spain. Methods: We classified 101 vegetation plots in two major vegetation types and quantified the variation in functional traits (life form, leaf area, plant height, seed mass) and ecological indicator values using community-weighted means (CWM) and Rao’s quadratic diversity index (Q). Results: The first vegetation type, characterized by Eurosiberian-like mesophilous grasslands (Armerion cantabricae), was dominated by hemicryptophytes, having taller plants with larger leaves and bigger seeds, and higher requirements for soil moisture and nitrogen. The second vegetation type, representing Mediterranean-like communities (Festucion burnartii), was mainly dominated by chamaephytes and showed higher requirements for continentality, light and pH. The Eurosiberian type was more diverse than the Mediterranean type in leaf area and pH requirements, but less diverse in life forms. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate how two vegetation types that to co-occur in the same alpine landscape have distinct species characteristics with specific functional traits and ecological requirements. This is likely driven by environmental filtering along meso-topographical gradients, favouring species with Mediterranean distribution in stressed habitats, and species with Eurosiberian distribution in microhabitats that retain soil water and nutrients. The distribution of functional diversity along these gradients may explain the resilience of alpine plant species in biogeographical transition zones of southern Europe. Taxonomic and syntaxonomic references: Vascular plants: Flora Iberica (Castroviejo et al. 1986–2012) and Floristic Catalogue of the Picos de Europa National Park (Alonso Felpete et al. 2011) for the taxa not included in Flora Iberica; Syntaxa: Rivas-Martinez et al. (2001) and Jiménez-Alfaro et al (2014b) for syntaxa not included in the former. Abbreviations: CWM = community-weighted means; DCA = Detrended Correspondence Analysis; EIV = ecological indicator value; LHS = Leaf area, plant height and seed size strategy; PCA = Principal Component Analysis; Q = Rao’s quadratic diversity index; TPI = topographic position index; TWI = topographic wetness index. Submitted: 23 January 2017; first decision: 16 March 2017; accepted: 13 October 2017
Keywords
Alpine vegetation • biogeography • Cantabrian mountains • community assembly • community-weighted means • Ellenberg indicator values • environmental filtering • Europe • functional diversity