Functional groups affect seedling survival both through a negative soil feedback and changes in abiotic conditions

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F16%3A43890763" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/16:43890763 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://www.preslia.cz/P163Smilauerova.pdf" target="_blank" >http://www.preslia.cz/P163Smilauerova.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Functional groups affect seedling survival both through a negative soil feedback and changes in abiotic conditions

Original language description

Seedling establishment, growth and survival are influenced by the competition from neighbouring plants for resources and their effect on the environment, including plant soil feedback. Do species-level mechanisms operate at the functional group level? We used a long-term removal experiment in a temperate grassland to study seedling survival and growth of two forb species and two species of grass in plots with either, only forb, only grass or mixture of grass and forb plants. The seedlings were followed for 16 months and environmental factors measured. All species survived best and grew larger in plots with plants of the same functional group. The largest differences in seedling survival between grass and forb plots were recorded in winter. We therefore carried out an additional experiment that focused on the effects of above-ground biomass and plant soil feedback on overwintering of seedlings. Removal of above-ground plant biomass at the beginning of winter increased seedling survival of all four species in grass plots, but only of the forb species in forb plots. Negative plant soil feedback was detected only for forbs during the winter experiment. At a finer scale in the main experiment, an increasing abundance of conspecific neighbours (of the same functional group) had a negative effect on seedling survival, but in some cases had a positive effect on seedling size. The environmental conditions measured were generally more favourable for seedling establishment in the forb plots (higher PhAR transmission and R/FR ratio in early spring, lower summer soil-surface temperatures, higher soil moisture throughout the season, higher long-term nitrate flow), but in the grass plots seedling establishment was probably enhanced by a higher spatial heterogeneity.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_x - Unclassified - Peer-reviewed scientific article (Jimp, Jsc and Jost)

CEP classification

EH - Ecology - communities

OECD FORD branch

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Project

<a href="/en/project/GA13-17118S" target="_blank" >GA13-17118S: From species traits to whole plant performance in the field: individual and population responses</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2016

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Preslia : časopis České botanické společnosti

ISSN

0032-7786

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

88

Issue of the periodical within the volume

3

Country of publishing house

CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC

Number of pages

22

Pages from-to

347-368

UT code for WoS article

000387096200002

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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