Journal
COMMUNITY ECOLOGY
Volume 17, Issue 1, Pages 61-70Publisher
AKADEMIAI KIADO RT
DOI: 10.1556/168.2016.17.1.8
Keywords
Alpha diversity; Bryophytes; Deciduous oak forests; Light conditions; Soil chemistry; Topography; Vascular plants
Categories
Funding
- Science Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic
- Slovak Academy of Sciences [VEGA 2/0027/13]
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Local plant species richness and composition may vary across habitats and between plant taxonomic groups within temperate deciduous forests. Multi-taxon approach is therefore needed to provide a more detailed insight into determinants affecting vegetation structure. Fifty-four deciduous oak-dominated vegetation plots (20 m 20 m) were sampled across central Slovakia (Stiavnicke vrchy Mts) in order to study the effect of environmental (soil, light, topographic) factors on species richness and composition patterns of two main assemblages of understorey layer (herb-layer vascular plants and ground-dwelling bryophytes). The number of recorded herb-layer vascular plants and ground-dwelling bryophytes was 1248 (mean 28) and 011 (mean 4) species per plot, respectively. Generalized linear model revealed that species richness of herb-layer vascular plants was driven by canopy openness, altitude, soil pH/base saturation gradient and plant-available phosphorus. Canopy openness and heat load index accompanied by soil pH/base saturation gradient determined changes of the ground-dwelling bryophyte richness. Canonical Correspondence Analysis identified soil pH/base saturation gradient, canopy openness, soil silt and topography related predictors (altitude, slope, radiation) as the main drivers of the herb-layer vascular plant compositional variability. Species composition variation of ground-dwelling bryophytes was controlled by radiation and canopy openness.
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