Understanding context dependency in the response of forest understorey plant communities to nitrogen deposition. Perring, M., P., Diekmann, M., Midolo, G., Schellenberger Costa, D., Bernhardt-Römermann, M., Otto, J., C., Gilliam, F., S., Hedwall, P., Nordin, A., Dirnböck, T., Simkin, S., M., Máliš, F., Blondeel, H., Brunet, J., Chudomelová, M., Durak, T., De Frenne, P., Hédl, R., Kopecký, M., Landuyt, D., Li, D., Manning, P., Petřík, P., Reczyńska, K., Schmidt, W., Standovár, T., Świerkosz, K., Vild, O., Waller, D., M., & Verheyen, K. Environmental Pollution, 242:1787-1799, 11, 2018.
Understanding context dependency in the response of forest understorey plant communities to nitrogen deposition [link]Website  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Understorey communities can dominate forest plant diversity and strongly affect forest ecosystem structure and function. Understoreys often respond sensitively but inconsistently to drivers of ecological change, including nitrogen (N) deposition. Nitrogen deposition effects, reflected in the concept of critical loads, vary greatly not only among species and guilds, but also among forest types. Here, we characterize such context dependency as driven by differences in the amounts and forms of deposited N, cumulative deposition, the filtering of N by overstoreys, and available plant species pools. Nitrogen effects on understorey trajectories can also vary due to differences in surrounding landscape conditions; ambient browsing pressure; soils and geology; other environmental factors controlling plant growth; and, historical and current disturbance/management regimes. The number of these factors and their potentially complex interactions complicate our efforts to make simple predictions about how N deposition affects forest understoreys. We review the literature to examine evidence for context dependency in N deposition effects on forest understoreys. We also use data from 1814 European temperate forest plots to test the ability of multi-level models to characterize context-dependent understorey responses across sites that differ in levels of N deposition, community composition, local conditions and management history. This analysis demonstrated that historical management, and plot location on light and pH-fertility gradients, significantly affect how understorey communities respond to N deposition. We conclude that species' and communities' responses to N deposition, and thus the determination of critical loads, vary greatly depending on environmental contexts. This complicates our efforts to predict how N deposition will affect forest understoreys and thus how best to conserve and restore understorey biodiversity. To reduce uncertainty and incorporate context dependency in critical load setting, we should assemble data on underlying environmental conditions, conduct globally distributed field experiments, and analyse a wider range of habitat types. We find that nitrogen deposition effects on temperate forest understoreys are highly context dependent, with implications for assignment of critical loads, and for conservation and restoration of plant biodiversity.
@article{
 title = {Understanding context dependency in the response of forest understorey plant communities to nitrogen deposition},
 type = {article},
 year = {2018},
 keywords = {Biodiversity,Critical load,Herb layer,N deposition,forestREplot},
 pages = {1787-1799},
 volume = {242},
 websites = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0269749118316610},
 month = {11},
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 notes = {In the tree layer, open- canopy species (e.g. Quercus petraea and Q. robur) have often been replaced by closed-canopy species (e.g. Fagus sylvatica, F. grandiflora, Acer pensylvanicum, A. rubrum)(Norland and Hix, 1996; Becker et al., 2017<br/><br/>Under open-forest conditions, light- demanding species such as Anemone nemorosa increase strongly in growth at the expense of species such as Primula elatior and Viola reichenbachiana (Thimonier et al., 1992; Bernhardt-R€omermann et al., 2010; Jantsch et al., 2013). Substantial},
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 abstract = {Understorey communities can dominate forest plant diversity and strongly affect forest ecosystem structure and function. Understoreys often respond sensitively but inconsistently to drivers of ecological change, including nitrogen (N) deposition. Nitrogen deposition effects, reflected in the concept of critical loads, vary greatly not only among species and guilds, but also among forest types. Here, we characterize such context dependency as driven by differences in the amounts and forms of deposited N, cumulative deposition, the filtering of N by overstoreys, and available plant species pools. Nitrogen effects on understorey trajectories can also vary due to differences in surrounding landscape conditions; ambient browsing pressure; soils and geology; other environmental factors controlling plant growth; and, historical and current disturbance/management regimes. The number of these factors and their potentially complex interactions complicate our efforts to make simple predictions about how N deposition affects forest understoreys. We review the literature to examine evidence for context dependency in N deposition effects on forest understoreys. We also use data from 1814 European temperate forest plots to test the ability of multi-level models to characterize context-dependent understorey responses across sites that differ in levels of N deposition, community composition, local conditions and management history. This analysis demonstrated that historical management, and plot location on light and pH-fertility gradients, significantly affect how understorey communities respond to N deposition. We conclude that species' and communities' responses to N deposition, and thus the determination of critical loads, vary greatly depending on environmental contexts. This complicates our efforts to predict how N deposition will affect forest understoreys and thus how best to conserve and restore understorey biodiversity. To reduce uncertainty and incorporate context dependency in critical load setting, we should assemble data on underlying environmental conditions, conduct globally distributed field experiments, and analyse a wider range of habitat types. We find that nitrogen deposition effects on temperate forest understoreys are highly context dependent, with implications for assignment of critical loads, and for conservation and restoration of plant biodiversity.},
 bibtype = {article},
 author = {Perring, Michael P. and Diekmann, Martin and Midolo, Gabriele and Schellenberger Costa, David and Bernhardt-Römermann, Markus and Otto, Johanna C.J. and Gilliam, Frank S. and Hedwall, Per-Ola and Nordin, Annika and Dirnböck, Thomas and Simkin, Samuel M. and Máliš, František and Blondeel, Haben and Brunet, Jörg and Chudomelová, Markéta and Durak, Tomasz and De Frenne, Pieter and Hédl, Radim and Kopecký, Martin and Landuyt, Dries and Li, Daijiang and Manning, Peter and Petřík, Petr and Reczyńska, Kamila and Schmidt, Wolfgang and Standovár, Tibor and Świerkosz, Krzysztof and Vild, Ondřej and Waller, Donald M. and Verheyen, Kris},
 doi = {10.1016/j.envpol.2018.07.089},
 journal = {Environmental Pollution}
}

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