Brunet, Jörg
- Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
We face increasing concerns about how the local diversity of native plant communities responds to various drivers of global change, yet often lack comprehensive studies that integrate several components of diversity and the effects of both local and regional drivers of change. We analyzed changes in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity across 2681 (semi-)permanent temperate forest understory plots surveyed and resurveyed for all vascular plants over intervals of 15-78 yr, spanning 72 regions distributed across Europe. We quantified temporal changes in these diversity indices and assessed their responses to changes in both local drivers (plot-level overstory cover, indicator values for soil nutrients) and regional shifts in macroclimate and nitrogen deposition. Overall, local changes in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity were centered around zero, reflecting - on average - little net change in forest diversity. Observed diversity changes mostly reflected local conditions such as overstory cover change and baseline soil nutrients rather than regional drivers of large-scale change. Changes in phylogenetic diversity correlated positively with changes in taxonomic diversity but negatively with changes in functional diversity. Our findings underscore the importance of local habitat management and multifaceted diversity monitoring for effective biodiversity conservation in temperate forests.
Keywords
atmospheric nitrogen deposition; climate change; Ellenberg indicator values; forestREplot; overstory buffering; temporal resurvey data; understory diversity
Published in
New Phytologist
2025
Publisher: WILEY
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Forest Science
Ecology
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70502
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/143709