Shipley, Bill and Belluau, Michael and Kuehn, Ingolf and Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A. and Bahn, Michael and Penuelas, Josep and Kattge, Jens and Sack, Lawren and Cavender-Bares, Jeannine and Ozinga, Wim A. and Blonder, Benjamin and van Bodegom, Peter M. and Manning, Peter and Hickler, Thomas and Sosinski, Enio and Pillar, Valerio De Patta and Onipchenko, Vladimir and Poschlod, Peter (2017) Predicting habitat affinities of plant species using commonly measured functional traits. JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE, 28 (5). pp. 1082-1095. ISSN 1100-9233, 1654-1103
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
QuestionsHeinz Ellenberg classically defined indicator scores for species representing their typical positions along gradients of key environmental variables, and these have proven very useful for designating ecological distributions. We tested a key tenent of trait-based ecology, i.e. the ability to predict ecological preferences from species' traits. More specifically, can we predict Ellenberg indicator scores for soil nutrients, soil moisture and irradiance from four well-studied traits: leaf area, leaf dry matter content, specific leaf area (SLA) and seed mass? Can we use such relationships to estimate Ellenberg scores for species never classified by Ellenberg? LocationGlobal. MethodsCumulative link models were developed to predict Ellenberg nutrients, irradiance and moisture values from Ln-transformed trait values using 922, 981 and 988 species, respectively. We then independently tested these prediction equations using the trait values of 423 and 421 new species that occurred elsewere in Europe, North America and Morocco, and whose habitat affinities we could classify from independent sources as three-level ordinal ranks related to soil moisture and irradiance. The traits were SLA, leaf dry matter content, leaf area and seed mass. ResultsThe four functional traits predicted the Ellenberg indicator scores of site fertility, light and moisture with average error rates of <2 Ellenberg ranks out of nine. We then used the trait values of 423 and 421 species, respectively, that occurred (mostly) outside of Germany but whose habitat affinities we could classify as three-level ordinal ranks related to soil moisture and irradiance. The predicted positions of the new species, given the equations derived from the Ellenberg indices, agreed well with their independent habitat classifications, although our equationfor Ellenberg irrandiance levels performed poorly on the lower ranks. ConclusionsThese prediction equations, and their eventual extensions, could be used to provide approximate descriptions of habitat affinities of large numbers of species worldwide.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | DRY-MATTER CONTENT; ELLENBERGS INDICATOR VALUES; DISTRIBUTION MODELS; LEAF-SIZE; MOISTURE; VEGETATION; TOLERANCE; PATTERNS; NITROGEN; DATABASE; Environmental gradients; Habitat affinities; Habitat fertility; Leaf dry matter content; Leaf size; Seed size; Shade; Specific leaf area; Soil moisture; Soil nutrients; Understorey plants; Wetlands |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 570 Life sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Dec 2018 13:15 |
| Last Modified: | 12 Feb 2019 15:01 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/1308 |
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