Half a Century of Temperate Non-Forest Vegetation Changes: No Net Loss in Species Richness, but Considerable Shifts in Taxonomic and Functional Composition

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F25%3A00627827" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/25:00627827 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/67985939:_____/25:00627827 RIV/60460709:41330/25:102096 RIV/60076658:12310/25:43909740 RIV/00216224:14310/25:00140784 and 2 more

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70030" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70030</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70030" target="_blank" >10.1111/gcb.70030</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Half a Century of Temperate Non-Forest Vegetation Changes: No Net Loss in Species Richness, but Considerable Shifts in Taxonomic and Functional Composition

Original language description

In recent decades, global change and local anthropogenic pressures have severely affected natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. Although disentangling the effects of these factors is difficult, they are reflected in changes in the functional composition of plant communities. We present a comprehensive, large-scale analysis of long-term changes in plant communities of various non-forest habitat types in the Czech Republic based on 1154 vegetation-plot time series from 53 resurvey studies comprising 3909 vegetation-plot records. We focused not only on taxonomic diversity but also on the functional characteristics of communities. Species richness of most habitat types increased over time, and taxonomic and functional community composition shifted significantly. Habitat specialists and threatened species became less represented in plant communities, indicating a decline in habitat quality. The spread of trees, shrubs, tall herbaceous plants, strong competitors, and nutrient-demanding species in all non-forest habitats, coupled with the decline of light-demanding species, suggests an effect of eutrophication and natural succession following the abandonment of traditional management. Moreover, we identified specific trends in certain habitats. In wetlands, springs, and mires, moisture-demanding species decreased, probably due to drainage, river regulations, and increasing drought resulting from climate change. Dry grasslands, ruderal, weed, sand, and shallow-soil vegetation became more mesic, and successional processes were most pronounced in these communities, suggesting a stronger effect of abandonment of traditional management and eutrophication. In alpine and subalpine vegetation, meadows and mesic pastures, and heathlands, insect-pollinated species declined, and the proportion of grasses increased. Overall, these functional changes provide deep insights into the underlying drivers and help conservationists take appropriate countermeasure.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10619 - Biodiversity conservation

Project

<a href="/en/project/SS73020008" target="_blank" >SS73020008: Monitoring Of Terrestrial habitats by Integrating Vegetation Archive Time series in Europe</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

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

Name of the periodical

Global Change Biology

ISSN

1354-1013

e-ISSN

1365-2486

Volume of the periodical

31

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

17

Pages from-to

e70030

UT code for WoS article

001403375800001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85215980478