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Journal ArticleDOI

Plant species richness in mountain forests of the Bavarian Alps

Jörg Ewald
- 21 Nov 2008 - 
- Vol. 142, Iss: 3, pp 594-603
TLDR
In this article, a stratified random sample of 93 vegetation plots (144 m2) from montane and subalpine climax forests in a representative section through the Bavarian Alps, spatial pattern and environmental correlates of species density of trees, vascular understorey and epigeic bryophytes were analyzed.
Abstract
Based on a stratified random sample of 93 vegetation plots (144 m2) from montane and subalpine climax forests in a representative section through the Bavarian Alps, spatial pattern and environmental correlates of species density of trees, vascular understorey and epigeic bryophytes were analysed. Detecting landscape scale patterns in beta- and gamma-diversity based on interpretation of rarefaction curves proved to be difficult in a sample that had been stratified by ecological criteria. In 144 m2 plots tree species density (5 ± 2.0, max. 10) declined with elevation and increased with stand age (multiple R 2 = 0.557). The latter effect can be attributed to the secular history of game management and browsing pressure, which has hindered the regeneration of species-rich tree stands since ca. 150 yr. Species density of the forest undergrowth reached remarkably high levels for vascular plants (42 ± 12.8, max. 69) and bryophytes (14 ± 6.0, max. 30) and strongly depended on cover of the respective layer...

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Ungulates increase forest plant species richness to the benefit of non-forest specialists.

TL;DR: It is concluded that ungulates, through the control of the shrub layer, indirectly increase herbaceous plant species richness by increasing light reaching the ground, however, this increase is detrimental to the peculiarity of forest plant communities and contributes to a landscape-level biotic homogenization.
Journal ArticleDOI

Estimation of herbaceous biomass from species composition and cover

TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose and test indirect estimation of herbaceous biomass using models based on easily obtainable variables, namely plant height and cover, and compare these models with Ellenberg indicator values for nutrients (EIVs Nutrients), which are sometimes used as an alternative measure of productivity.
Journal ArticleDOI

The species richness–productivity relationship in the herb layer of European deciduous forests

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between species richness and herb layer productivity in deciduous forests and found a consistent monotonic increase in the herb layer species richness with productivity across all study areas and all forest types.
Journal ArticleDOI

The interaction between elevational gradient and substratum reveals how bryophytes respond to the climate

TL;DR: Temperature was the most important predictor of bryophyte richness, whereas model selection suggested that temperature, solar radiation and rainfall had equal effects on functional diversity.
Journal ArticleDOI

Alpha diversity of vascular plants in European forests

TL;DR: In this article, the number of vascular plant species that co-occur in local communities (alpha diversity) within spatial units of 400 m2 was estimated for European forests by modelling the number and factors likely determining the observed spatial patterns in alpha diversity.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness

TL;DR: A series of common pitfalls in quantifying and comparing taxon richness are surveyed, including category‐subcategory ratios (species-to-genus and species-toindividual ratios) and rarefaction methods, which allow for meaningful standardization and comparison of datasets.
Book

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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present plant strategies in the established phase and the regenerative phase in the emerging phase, respectively, and discuss the relationship between the two phases: primary strategies and secondary strategies.
Journal ArticleDOI

Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a study material for the participants of the course named Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data that we teach at our university for the third year, which provides an easy-to-read supplement for the more exact and detailed publications like the collection of the Dr. Ter Braak' papers and the Canoco for Windows 4.0 manual.
Journal ArticleDOI

The Relationship Between Productivity and Species Richness

TL;DR: Reviews of the literature concerning deserts, boreal forests, tropical forests, lakes, and wetlands lead to the conclusion that extant data are insufficient to conclusively resolve the relationship between diversity and productivity, or that patterns are variable with mechanisms equally varied and complex.
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