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Your search keyword '"Bernhardt‐Römermann, M."' showing total 2 results
Start Over Author "Bernhardt‐Römermann, M." Topic atmospheric deposition
2 results on '"Bernhardt‐Römermann, M."'

1. Plant functional trait response to environmental drivers across European temperate forest understorey communities.

Author

Maes, S. L., Perring, M. P., Depauw, L., Bernhardt‐Römermann, M., Blondeel, H., Brūmelis, G., Brunet, J., Decocq, G., den Ouden, J., Govaert, S., Härdtle, W., Hédl, R., Heinken, T., Heinrichs, S., Hertzog, L., Jaroszewicz, B., Kirby, K., Kopecký, M., Landuyt, D., and Máliš, F.

Subjects
FOREST regeneration, TEMPERATE forests, PLANT communities, COMMUNITY forests, SOIL moisture, ATMOSPHERIC nitrogen, DECIDUOUS forests, ATMOSPHERIC deposition
Abstract

Functional traits respond to environmental drivers, hence evaluating trait‐environment relationships across spatial environmental gradients can help to understand how multiple drivers influence plant communities. Global‐change drivers such as changes in atmospheric nitrogen deposition occur worldwide, but affect community trait distributions at the local scale, where resources (e.g. light availability) and conditions (e.g. soil pH) also influence plant communities.We investigate how multiple environmental drivers affect community trait responses related to resource acquisition (plant height, specific leaf area (SLA), woodiness, and mycorrhizal status) and regeneration (seed mass, lateral spread) of European temperate deciduous forest understoreys. We sampled understorey communities and derived trait responses across spatial gradients of global‐change drivers (temperature, precipitation, nitrogen deposition, and past land use), while integrating in‐situ plot measurements on resources and conditions (soil type, Olsen phosphorus (P), Ellenberg soil moisture, light, litter mass, and litter quality).Among the global‐change drivers, mean annual temperature strongly influenced traits related to resource acquisition. Higher temperatures were associated with taller understoreys producing leaves with lower SLA, and a higher proportional cover of woody and obligate mycorrhizal (OM) species. Communities in plots with higher Ellenberg soil moisture content had smaller seeds and lower proportional cover of woody and OM species. Finally, plots with thicker litter layers hosted taller understoreys with larger seeds and a higher proportional cover of OM species.Our findings suggest potential community shifts in temperate forest understoreys with global warming, and highlight the importance of local resources and conditions as well as global‐change drivers for community trait variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2020
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2. Driving factors behind the eutrophication signal in understorey plant communities of deciduous temperate forests

Author

Verheyen, K., Baeten, L., De Frenne, P., Bernhardt-Römermann, M., Brunet, J., Cornelis, J., Decocq, G., Eriksson, O., Dierschke, H., and Hommel, P.W.F.M.

Subjects
nitrogen deposition, white-tailed deer, ground-layer vegetation, leaf-litter, field-measurements, atmospheric deposition, ellenberg indicator values, CE - Forest Ecosystems, Wageningen Environmental Research, soil acidification, species richness, coppice-with-standards
Abstract

1. Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is expected to change forest understorey plant community composition and diversity, but results of experimental addition studies and observational studies are not yet conclusive. A shortcoming of observational studies, which are generally based on resurveys or sampling along large deposition gradients, is the occurrence of temporal or spatial confounding factors. 2. We were able to assess the contribution of N deposition versus other ecological drivers on forest understorey plant communities by combining a temporal and spatial approach. Data from 1205 (semi-)permanent vegetation plots taken from 23 rigorously selected understorey resurvey studies along a large deposition gradient across deciduous temperate forest in Europe were compiled and related to various local and regional driving factors, including the rate of atmospheric N deposition, the change in large herbivore densities and the change in canopy cover and composition. 3. Although no directional change in species richness occurred, there was considerable floristic turnover in the understorey plant community and a shift in species composition towards more shade-tolerant and nutrient-demanding species. However, atmospheric N deposition was not important in explaining the observed eutrophication signal. This signal seemed mainly related to a shift towards a denser canopy cover and a changed canopy species composition with a higher share of species with more easily decomposed litter. 4. Synthesis. Our multi-site approach clearly demonstrates that one should be cautious when drawing conclusions about the impact of atmospheric N deposition based on the interpretation of plant community shifts in single sites or regions due to other, concurrent, ecological changes. Even though the effects of chronically increased N deposition on the forest plant communities are apparently obscured by the effects of canopy changes, the accumulated N might still have a significant impact. However, more research is needed to assess whether this N time bomb will indeed explode when canopies will open up again.

Published
2012

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