TY - JOUR A1 - De Frenne, Pieter A1 - Blondeel, H. A1 - Brunet, J. A1 - Caron, M. M. A1 - Chabrerie, O. A1 - Cougnon, M. A1 - Cousins, S. A. O. A1 - Decocq, G. A1 - Diekmann, M. A1 - Graae, B. J. A1 - Hanley, M. E. A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hermy, M. A1 - Kolb, A. A1 - Lenoir, J. A1 - Liira, J. A1 - Orczewska, A. A1 - Shevtsova, A. A1 - Vanneste, T. A1 - Verheyen, K. T1 - Atmospheric nitrogen deposition on petals enhances seed quality of the forest herb Anemone nemorosa JF - Plant biology N2 - Elevated atmospheric input of nitrogen (N) is currently affecting plant biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. The growth and survival of numerous plant species is known to respond strongly to N fertilisation. Yet, few studies have assessed the effects of N deposition on seed quality and reproductive performance, which is an important life-history stage of plants. Here we address this knowledge gap by assessing the effects of atmospheric N deposition on seed quality of the ancient forest herb Anemone nemorosa using two complementary approaches. By taking advantage of the wide spatiotemporal variation in N deposition rates in pan-European temperate and boreal forests over 2years, we detected positive effects of N deposition on the N concentration (percentage N per unit seed mass, increased from 2.8% to 4.1%) and N content (total N mass per seed more than doubled) of A.nemorosa seeds. In a complementary experiment, we applied ammonium nitrate to aboveground plant tissues and the soil surface to determine whether dissolved N sources in precipitation could be incorporated into seeds. Although the addition of N to leaves and the soil surface had no effect, a concentrated N solution applied to petals during anthesis resulted in increased seed mass, seed N concentration and N content. Our results demonstrate that N deposition on the petals enhances bioaccumulation of N in the seeds of A.nemorosa. Enhanced atmospheric inputs of N can thus not only affect growth and population dynamics via root or canopy uptake, but can also influence seed quality and reproduction via intake through the inflorescences. KW - Latitudinal gradient KW - nitrogen deposition KW - nutrient stoichiometry KW - seed provisioning KW - seed quality KW - sexual reproduction KW - wood anemone Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.12688 SN - 1435-8603 SN - 1438-8677 VL - 20 IS - 3 SP - 619 EP - 626 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Perring, Michael P. A1 - Bernhardt-Roemermann, Markus A1 - Baeten, Lander A1 - Midolo, Gabriele A1 - Blondeel, Haben A1 - Depauw, Leen A1 - Landuyt, Dries A1 - Maes, Sybryn L. A1 - De Lombaerde, Emiel A1 - Caron, Maria Mercedes A1 - Vellend, Mark A1 - Brunet, Joerg A1 - Chudomelova, Marketa A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Dirnboeck, Thomas A1 - Doerfler, Inken A1 - Durak, Tomasz A1 - De Frenne, Pieter A1 - Gilliam, Frank S. A1 - Hedl, Radim A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hommel, Patrick A1 - Jaroszewicz, Bogdan A1 - Kirby, Keith J. A1 - Kopecky, Martin A1 - Lenoir, Jonathan A1 - Li, Daijiang A1 - Malis, Frantisek A1 - Mitchell, Fraser J. G. A1 - Naaf, Tobias A1 - Newman, Miles A1 - Petrik, Petr A1 - Reczynska, Kamila A1 - Schmidt, Wolfgang A1 - Standovar, Tibor A1 - Swierkosz, Krzysztof A1 - Van Calster, Hans A1 - Vild, Ondrej A1 - Wagner, Eva Rosa A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Verheyen, Kris T1 - Global environmental change effects on plant community composition trajectories depend upon management legacies JF - Global change biology N2 - The contemporary state of functional traits and species richness in plant communities depends on legacy effects of past disturbances. Whether temporal responses of community properties to current environmental changes are altered by such legacies is, however, unknown. We expect global environmental changes to interact with land-use legacies given different community trajectories initiated by prior management, and subsequent responses to altered resources and conditions. We tested this expectation for species richness and functional traits using 1814 survey-resurvey plot pairs of understorey communities from 40 European temperate forest datasets, syntheses of management transitions since the year 1800, and a trait database. We also examined how plant community indicators of resources and conditions changed in response to management legacies and environmental change. Community trajectories were clearly influenced by interactions between management legacies from over 200 years ago and environmental change. Importantly, higher rates of nitrogen deposition led to increased species richness and plant height in forests managed less intensively in 1800 (i.e., high forests), and to decreases in forests with a more intensive historical management in 1800 (i.e., coppiced forests). There was evidence that these declines in community variables in formerly coppiced forests were ameliorated by increased rates of temperature change between surveys. Responses were generally apparent regardless of sites’ contemporary management classifications, although sometimes the management transition itself, rather than historic or contemporary management types, better explained understorey responses. Main effects of environmental change were rare, although higher rates of precipitation change increased plant height, accompanied by increases in fertility indicator values. Analysis of indicator values suggested the importance of directly characterising resources and conditions to better understand legacy and environmental change effects. Accounting for legacies of past disturbance can reconcile contradictory literature results and appears crucial to anticipating future responses to global environmental change. KW - biodiversity change KW - climate change KW - disturbance regime KW - forestREplot KW - herbaceous layer KW - management intensity KW - nitrogen deposition KW - plant functional traits KW - time lag KW - vegetation resurvey Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14030 SN - 1354-1013 SN - 1365-2486 VL - 24 IS - 4 SP - 1722 EP - 1740 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vanneste, Thomas A1 - Valdes, Alicia A1 - Verheyen, Kris A1 - Perring, Michael P. A1 - Bernhardt-Roemermann, Markus A1 - Andrieu, Emilie A1 - Brunet, Jorg A1 - Cousins, Sara A. O. A1 - Deconchat, Marc A1 - De Smedt, Pallieter A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Ehrmann, Steffen A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Kolb, Annette A1 - Lenoir, Jonathan A1 - Liira, Jaan A1 - Naaf, Tobias A1 - Paal, Taavi A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - De Frenne, Pieter T1 - Functional trait variation of forest understorey plant communities across Europe JF - Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft für Ökologie N2 - Global environmental changes are expected to alter the functional characteristics of understorey herb-layer communities, potentially affecting forest ecosystem functioning. However, little is known about what drives the variability of functional traits in forest understories. Here, we assessed the role of different environmental drivers in shaping the functional trait distribution of understorey herbs in fragmented forests across three spatial scales. We focused on 708 small, deciduous forest patches located in 16 agricultural landscape windows, spanning a 2500-km macroclimatic gradient across the temperate forest biome in Europe. We estimated the relative effect of patch-scale, landscape-scale and macroclimatic variables on the community mean and variation of plant height, specific leaf area and seed mass. Macroclimatic variables (monthly temperature and precipitation extremes) explained the largest proportion of variation in community trait means (on average 77% of the explained variation). In contrast, patch-scale factors dominated in explaining community trait variation (on average 68% of the explained variation). Notably, patch age, size and internal heterogeneity had a positive effect on the community-level variability. Landscape-scale variables explained only a minor part of the variation in both trait distribution properties. The variation explained by shared combinations of the variable groups was generally negligible. These findings highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial scales in predictions of environmental-change effects on the functionality of forest understories. We propose that forest management sustainability could benefit from conserving larger, historically continuous and internally heterogeneous forest patches to maximise ecosystem service diversity in rural landscapes. (C) 2018 Gesellschaft fur Okologie. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. KW - Agricultural landscapes KW - Biogeography KW - Community ecology KW - Forest understorey KW - Functional trait diversity KW - Fragmentation KW - Global environmental change KW - Landscape connectivity KW - Macroclimatic gradient KW - Multi-scale analysis Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2018.09.004 SN - 1439-1791 SN - 1618-0089 VL - 34 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Elsevier GmbH CY - München ER -