Publication details

Scale dependence of species-area relationships is widespread but generally weak in Palaearctic grasslands

Authors

ZHANG Jinghui GILLET François BARTHA Sándor ALATALO Juha Mikael BIURRUN Idoia DEMBICZ Iwona GRYTNES John-Arvid JAUNATRE Renaud PIELECH Remigiusz VAN MEERBEEK Koenraad VYNOKUROV Denys WIDMER Stefan ALEKSANYAN Alla BHATTA Kuber Prasad CAMPOS Juan Antonio CZORTEK Patryk DOLEZAL Jiri ESSL Franz GARCIA-MIJANGOS Itziar GUARINO Riccardo GÜLER Behlül HÁJEK Michal KUZEMKO Anna LI Frank Yonghong LÖBEL Swantje MORADI Halime NAQINEZHAD Alireza SILVA Vasco ŠMERDOVÁ Eva SONKOLY Judit STIFTER Simon TALEBI Amir TÖRÖK Péter WHITE Hannah WU Jianshuang DENGLER Jürgen

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Journal of Vegetation Science
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.13044
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jvs.13044
Keywords beta diversity; grassland; GrassPlot; Heterogeneity; Palaearctic; power law; rooted presence; scale dependence; shoot presence; species-area relationship; vegetation; z-value
Description Questions Species-area relationships (SARs) are fundamental for understanding biodiversity patterns and are generally well described by a power law with a constant exponent z. However, z-values sometimes vary across spatial scales. We asked whether there is a general scale dependence of z-values at fine spatial grains and which potential drivers influence it. Location Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Methods We used 6,696 nested-plot series of vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens from the GrassPlot database with two or more grain sizes, ranging from 0.0001 m(2) to 1,024 m(2) and covering diverse open habitats. The plots were recorded with two widespread sampling approaches (rooted presence = species "rooting" inside the plot; shoot presence = species with aerial parts inside). Using Generalized Additive Models, we tested for scale dependence of z-values by evaluating if the z-values differ with gran size and tested for differences between the sampling approaches. The response shapes of z-values to grain were classified by fitting Generalized Linear Models with logit link to each series. We tested whether the grain size where the maximum z-value occurred is driven by taxonomic group, biogeographic or ecological variables. Results For rooted presence, we found a strong monotonous increase of z-values with grain sizes for all grain sizes below 1 m(2). For shoot presence, the scale dependence was much weaker, with hump-shaped curves prevailing. Among the environmental variables studied, latitude, vegetation type, naturalness and land use had strong effects, with z-values of secondary peaking at smaller grain sizes. Conclusions The overall weak scale dependence of z-values underlines that the power function generally is appropriate to describe SARs within the studied grain sizes in continuous open vegetation, if recorded with the shoot presence method. When clear peaks of z-values occur, this can be seen as an expression of granularity of species composition, partly driven by abiotic environment.

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.

More info