Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2020
Functional Diversity of Riparian Woody Vegetation Is Less Affected by River Regulation in the Mediterranean Than Boreal Region
Lozanovska, Ivana; Bejarano, Maria Dolores; Martins, Maria Joao; Nilsson, Christer; Ferreira, Maria Teresa; Aguiar, Francisca C.Abstract
River regulation may filter out riparian plants often resulting in reduced functional diversity, i.e., in the range of functions that organisms have in communities and ecosystems. There is, however, little empirical evidence about the magnitude of such reductions in different regions. We investigated the functional diversity patterns of riparian woody vegetation to streamflow regulation in boreal Sweden and Mediterranean Portugal using nine plant functional traits and field data from 109 sampling sites. We evaluated changes in mean plant functional traits as well as in indices of multidimensional functional traits, i.e., functional richness (FRic) and functional redundancy (FRed) within regions and between free-flowing and regulated river reaches. We found that regulation significantly reduced functional diversity in Sweden but not in Portugal. In Sweden, the increased magnitude of variations in water flow and water level in summer, the prolonged duration of extreme hydrological events, the increased frequency of high-water pulses, and the rate of change in water conditions were the likely main drivers of functional diversity change. Small riparian plant species with tiny leaves, poorly lignified stems, and shallow root systems were consistently associated with regulated sites in the boreal region. In Portugal, the similar functional diversity values for free-flowing and regulated rivers likely stem from the smaller streamflow alterations by regulation combined with the species legacy adaptations to the Mediterranean natural hydrological regimes. We conclude that streamflow regulation may reduce the functional diversity of riparian woody vegetation, but the magnitude of these effects will vary depending on the adaptations of the local flora and the patterns of streamflow disturbances. Our study provides insights into functional diversity patterns of riparian woody vegetation affected by regulation in contrasting biomes and encourages further studies of the functional diversity thresholds for maintaining ecosystems.Keywords
functional diversity; functional traits; functional richness; functional redundancy; riparian woody vegetation; streamflow regulation; boreal biome; mediterranean biomePublished in
Frontiers in Plant Science2020, volume: 11, article number: 857
Publisher: FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
Authors' information
Lozanovska, Ivana
Univ Lisbon
Bejarano, Maria Dolores
Umea Univ
Martins, Maria Joao
Univ Lisbon
Umeå University
Nilsson, Christer (Nilsson, Christer)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies
Ferreira, Maria Teresa
Univ Lisbon
Aguiar, Francisca C.
Univ Lisbon
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00857
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/107231