Disturbances by the European ground squirrel enhance diversity and spatial heterogeneity of plant communities in temperate grassland

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F20%3A43901937" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/20:43901937 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-019-01914-5" target="_blank" >https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-019-01914-5</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01914-5" target="_blank" >10.1007/s10531-019-01914-5</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Disturbances by the European ground squirrel enhance diversity and spatial heterogeneity of plant communities in temperate grassland

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Fossorial rodents are recognized as diversity drivers in grassland ecosystems and are therefore considered ecosystem engineers and keystone species. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding this function for species in temperate grasslands, especially one of the most threatened, the European ground squirrel. We examined the effect of the European ground squirrel on plant species composition and diversity along the disturbance gradient mediated by their different population density and subsequently different disturbance intensity. We evaluated the effect of ground squirrel disturbance on plant diversity patterns in two plant communities with different species richness to determine whether the same pattern exists in contrasting habitats. In each plant community, we established transect of 25 x 250 m composed of 10 quadrats with different disturbance intensities of the ground squirrels. Vascular plant species were recorded in 320 plots of 1 m(2). The distribution of individual species along the ground squirrel-mediated disturbance gradient was analysed using redundancy analysis. Diversity measures were calculated and modelled as a function of disturbances using generalized additive models. We observed significant compositional changes in plant communities accompanied by a reduction in dominant graminoid cover and a non-decreasing trend in forb cover along the disturbance gradient in both types of communities. We found that increasing disturbance activity leads to an increase in diversity at coarse spatial scale (625 m(2)) and spatial heterogeneity in species composition of both species-poor and species-rich plant community. The fine-scale (1 m(2)) diversity increased significantly only in species-poor community. Our results demonstrate that the European ground squirrel can be deservedly labelled as an important ecosystem engineer and keystone species promoting the diversity and heterogeneity of European temperate grasslands.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Disturbances by the European ground squirrel enhance diversity and spatial heterogeneity of plant communities in temperate grassland

Popis výsledku anglicky

Fossorial rodents are recognized as diversity drivers in grassland ecosystems and are therefore considered ecosystem engineers and keystone species. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding this function for species in temperate grasslands, especially one of the most threatened, the European ground squirrel. We examined the effect of the European ground squirrel on plant species composition and diversity along the disturbance gradient mediated by their different population density and subsequently different disturbance intensity. We evaluated the effect of ground squirrel disturbance on plant diversity patterns in two plant communities with different species richness to determine whether the same pattern exists in contrasting habitats. In each plant community, we established transect of 25 x 250 m composed of 10 quadrats with different disturbance intensities of the ground squirrels. Vascular plant species were recorded in 320 plots of 1 m(2). The distribution of individual species along the ground squirrel-mediated disturbance gradient was analysed using redundancy analysis. Diversity measures were calculated and modelled as a function of disturbances using generalized additive models. We observed significant compositional changes in plant communities accompanied by a reduction in dominant graminoid cover and a non-decreasing trend in forb cover along the disturbance gradient in both types of communities. We found that increasing disturbance activity leads to an increase in diversity at coarse spatial scale (625 m(2)) and spatial heterogeneity in species composition of both species-poor and species-rich plant community. The fine-scale (1 m(2)) diversity increased significantly only in species-poor community. Our results demonstrate that the European ground squirrel can be deservedly labelled as an important ecosystem engineer and keystone species promoting the diversity and heterogeneity of European temperate grasslands.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10618 - Ecology

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/EF15_003%2F0000441" target="_blank" >EF15_003/0000441: Mechanismy a dynamika makromolekulárních komplexů</a><br>

Návaznosti

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

Rok uplatnění

2020

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

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

Název periodika

Biodiversity and Conservation

ISSN

0960-3115

e-ISSN

—

Svazek periodika

29

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

3

Stát vydavatele periodika

NL - Nizozemsko

Počet stran výsledku

15

Strana od-do

853-867

Kód UT WoS článku

000499419900001

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85075885819