TY - JOUR A1 - Maes, Sybryn L. A1 - Perring, Michael P. A1 - Vanhellemont, Margot A1 - Depauw, Leen A1 - Van den Bulcke, Jan A1 - Brumelis, Guntis A1 - Brunet, Jorg A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - den Ouden, Jan A1 - Härdtle, Werner A1 - Hedl, Radim A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Heinrichs, Steffi A1 - Jaroszewicz, Bogdan A1 - Kopecký, Martin A1 - Malis, Frantisek A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Verheyen, Kris T1 - Environmental drivers interactively affect individual tree growth across temperate European forests JF - Global change biology N2 - Forecasting the growth of tree species to future environmental changes requires abetter understanding of its determinants. Tree growth is known to respond to global‐change drivers such as climate change or atmospheric deposition, as well as to localland‐use drivers such as forest management. Yet, large geographical scale studiesexamining interactive growth responses to multiple global‐change drivers are relativelyscarce and rarely consider management effects. Here, we assessed the interactiveeffects of three global‐change drivers (temperature, precipitation and nitrogen deposi-tion) on individual tree growth of three study species (Quercus robur/petraea, Fagus syl-vatica and Fraxinus excelsior). We sampled trees along spatial environmental gradientsacross Europe and accounted for the effects of management for Quercus. We collectedincrement cores from 267 trees distributed over 151 plots in 19 forest regions andcharacterized their neighbouring environment to take into account potentially confounding factors such as tree size, competition, soil conditions and elevation. Wedemonstrate that growth responds interactively to global‐change drivers, with species ‐specific sensitivities to the combined factors. Simultaneously high levels of precipita-tion and deposition benefited Fraxinus, but negatively affected Quercus’ growth, high-lighting species‐specific interactive tree growth responses to combined drivers. ForFagus, a stronger growth response to higher temperatures was found when precipita-tion was also higher, illustrating the potential negative effects of drought stress underwarming for this species. Furthermore, we show that past forest management canmodulate the effects of changing temperatures on Quercus’ growth; individuals in plotswith a coppicing history showed stronger growth responses to higher temperatures.Overall, our findings highlight how tree growth can be interactively determined by glo-bal‐change drivers, and how these growth responses might be modulated by past for-est management. By showing future growth changes for scenarios of environmentalchange, we stress the importance of considering multiple drivers, including past man-agement and their interactions, when predicting tree growth. KW - basal area increment KW - climate change KW - Fagus KW - Fraxinus KW - historical ecology KW - nitrogen deposition KW - Quercus KW - tree-ring analysis Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14493 SN - 1354-1013 SN - 1365-2486 VL - 25 IS - 1 SP - 201 EP - 217 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Plue, Jan A1 - De Frenne, Pieter A1 - Acharya, Kamal A1 - Brunet, Jörg A1 - Chabrerie, Olivier A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Graae, Bente J. A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Kolb, Annette A1 - Lemke, Isgard A1 - Liira, Jaan A1 - Naaf, Tobias A1 - Verheyen, Kris A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Cousins, Sara A. O. T1 - Where does the community start, and where does it end? BT - including the seed bank to reassess forest herb layer responses to the environment JF - Journal of vegetation science N2 - QuestionBelow-ground processes are key determinants of above-ground plant population and community dynamics. Still, our understanding of how environmental drivers shape plant communities is mostly based on above-ground diversity patterns, bypassing below-ground plant diversity stored in seed banks. As seed banks may shape above-ground plant communities, we question whether concurrently analysing the above- and below-ground species assemblages may potentially enhance our understanding of community responses to environmental variation. LocationTemperate deciduous forests along a 2000km latitudinal gradient in NW Europe. MethodsHerb layer, seed bank and local environmental data including soil pH, canopy cover, forest cover continuity and time since last canopy disturbance were collected in 129 temperate deciduous forest plots. We quantified herb layer and seed bank diversity per plot and evaluated how environmental variation structured community diversity in the herb layer, seed bank and the combined herb layer-seed bank community. ResultsSeed banks consistently held more plant species than the herb layer. How local plot diversity was partitioned across the herb layer and seed bank was mediated by environmental variation in drivers serving as proxies of light availability. The herb layer and seed bank contained an ever smaller and ever larger share of local diversity, respectively, as both canopy cover and time since last canopy disturbance decreased. Species richness and -diversity of the combined herb layer-seed bank community responded distinctly differently compared to the separate assemblages in response to environmental variation in, e.g. forest cover continuity and canopy cover. ConclusionsThe seed bank is a below-ground diversity reservoir of the herbaceous forest community, which interacts with the herb layer, although constrained by environmental variation in e.g. light availability. The herb layer and seed bank co-exist as a single community by means of the so-called storage effect, resulting in distinct responses to environmental variation not necessarily recorded in the individual herb layer or seed bank assemblages. Thus, concurrently analysing above- and below-ground diversity will improve our ecological understanding of how understorey plant communities respond to environmental variation. KW - Above-ground KW - Below-ground KW - Canopy KW - Disturbance KW - Diversity KW - Light availability KW - NWEurope KW - Plant community KW - Species co-existence KW - Storage effect Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12493 SN - 1100-9233 SN - 1654-1103 VL - 28 IS - 2 SP - 424 EP - 435 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - De Lombaerde, Emiel A1 - Verheyen, Kris A1 - Perring, Michael P. A1 - Bernhardt-Roemermann, Markus A1 - Van Calster, Hans A1 - Brunet, Jorg A1 - Chudomelova, Marketa A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Durak, Tomasz A1 - Hedl, Radim A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hommel, Patrick A1 - Jaroszewicz, Bogdan A1 - Kopecky, Martin A1 - Lenoir, Jonathan A1 - Macek, Martin A1 - Máliš, František A1 - Mitchell, Fraser J. G. A1 - Naaf, Tobias A1 - Newman, Miles A1 - Petřík, Petr A1 - Reczyńska, Kamila A1 - Schmidt, Wolfgang A1 - Swierkosz, Krzysztof A1 - Vild, Ondrej A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Baetena, Lander T1 - Responses of competitive understorey species to spatial environmental gradients inaccurately explain temporal changes JF - Basic and applied ecology : Journal of the Gesellschaft für Ökologie N2 - Understorey plant communities play a key role in the functioning of forest ecosystems. Under favourable environmental conditions, competitive understorey species may develop high abundances and influence important ecosystem processes such as tree regeneration. Thus, understanding and predicting the response of competitive understorey species as a function of changing environmental conditions is important for forest managers. In the absence of sufficient temporal data to quantify actual vegetation changes, space-for-time (SFT) substitution is often used, i.e. studies that use environmental gradients across space to infer vegetation responses to environmental change over time. Here we assess the validity of such SFT approaches and analysed 36 resurvey studies from ancient forests with low levels of recent disturbances across temperate Europe to assess how six competitive understorey plant species respond to gradients of overstorey cover, soil conditions, atmospheric N deposition and climatic conditions over space and time. The combination of historical and contemporary surveys allows (i) to test if observed contemporary patterns across space are consistent at the time of the historical survey, and, crucially, (ii) to assess whether changes in abundance over time given recorded environmental change match expectations from patterns recorded along environmental gradients in space. We found consistent spatial relationships at the two periods: local variation in soil variables and overstorey cover were the best predictors of individual species’ cover while interregional variation in coarse-scale variables, i.e. N deposition and climate, was less important. However, we found that our SFT approach could not accurately explain the large variation in abundance changes over time. We thus recommend to be cautious when using SFT substitution to infer species responses to temporal changes. KW - Temperate forest KW - Herb layer KW - Tree regeneration KW - Global change KW - Nitrogen deposition KW - Canopy KW - Spatiotemporal resurvey data KW - Cover abundance KW - Chronosequence KW - forestREplot Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2018.05.013 SN - 1439-1791 SN - 1618-0089 VL - 30 SP - 52 EP - 64 PB - Elsevier GMBH CY - München 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 - Maes, Sybryn L. A1 - Blondeel, Haben A1 - Perring, Michael P. A1 - Depauw, Leen A1 - Brumelis, Guntis A1 - Brunet, Jörg A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - den Ouden, Jan A1 - Haerdtle, Werner A1 - Hedl, Radim A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Heinrichs, Steffi A1 - Jaroszewicz, Bogdan A1 - Kirby, Keith J. A1 - Kopecky, Martin A1 - Malis, Frantisek A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Verheyen, Kris T1 - Litter quality, land-use history, and nitrogen deposition effects on topsoil conditions across European temperate deciduous forests JF - Forest ecology and management N2 - Topsoil conditions in temperate forests are influenced by several soil-forming factors, such as canopy composition (e.g. through litter quality), land-use history, atmospheric deposition, and the parent material. Many studies have evaluated the effects of single factors on physicochemical topsoil conditions, but few have assessed the simultaneous effects of multiple drivers. Here, we evaluate the combined effects of litter quality, land-use history (past land cover as well as past forest management), and atmospheric deposition on several physicochemical topsoil conditions of European temperate deciduous forest soils: bulk density, proportion of exchangeable base cations, carbon/nitrogen-ratio (C/N), litter mass, bio-available and total phosphorus, pH(KCI)and soil organic matter. We collected mineral soil and litter layer samples, and measured site characteristics for 190 20 x 20 m European mixed forest plots across gradients of litter quality (derived from the canopy species composition) and atmospheric deposition, and for different categories of past land cover and past forest management. We accounted for the effects of parent material on topsoil conditions by clustering our plots into three soil type groups based on texture and carbonate concentration. We found that litter quality was a stronger driver of topsoil conditions compared to land-use history or atmospheric deposition, while the soil type also affected several topsoil conditions here. Plots with higher litter quality had soils with a higher proportion of exchangeable base cations, and total phosphorus, and lower C/N-ratios and litter mass. Furthermore, the observed litter quality effects on the topsoil were independent from the regional nitrogen deposition or the soil type, although the soil type likely (co)-determined canopy composition and thus litter quality to some extent in the investigated plots. Litter quality effects on topsoil phosphorus concentrations did interact with past land cover, highlighting the need to consider land-use history when evaluating canopy effects on soil conditions. We conclude that forest managers can use the canopy composition as an important tool for influencing topsoil conditions, although soil type remains an important factor to consider. KW - Soil fertility KW - Ancient forest KW - Post-agricultural forest KW - Coppice KW - High forest KW - pH KW - Phosphorus KW - Base cations KW - Nutrient cycling KW - Decomposition Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.10.056 SN - 0378-1127 SN - 1872-7042 VL - 433 SP - 405 EP - 418 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam 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 - TY - JOUR A1 - de Frenne, Pieter A1 - Graae, Bente Jessen A1 - Kolb, Annette A1 - Brunet, Jörg A1 - Chabrerie, Olivier A1 - Cousins, Sara A. O. A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - Dhondt, Rob A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Eriksson, Olof A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Jögar, uelle A1 - Saguez, Robert A1 - Shevtsova, Anna A1 - Stanton, Sharon A1 - Zindel, Renate A1 - Zobel, Martin A1 - Verheyen, Kris T1 - Significant effects of temperature on the reproductive output of the forest herb Anemone nemorosa L. N2 - Climate warming is already influencing plant migration in different parts of the world. Numerous models have been developed to forecast future plant distributions. Few studies, however, have investigated the potential effect of warming on the reproductive output of plants. Understorey forest herbs in particular, have received little attention in the debate on climate change impacts. This study focuses on the effect of temperature on sexual reproductive output (number of seeds, seed mass, germination percentage and seedling mass) of Anemone nemorosa L., a model species for slow colonizing herbaceous forest plants. We sampled seeds of A. nemorosa in populations along a 2400 km latitudinal gradient from northern France to northern Sweden during three growing seasons (2005,2006 and 2008). This study design allowed us to isolate the effects of accumulated temperature (Growing Degree Hours; GDH) from latitude and the local abiotic and biotic environment. Germination and seed sowing trials were performed in incubators, a greenhouse and under field conditions in a forest. Finally, we disentangled correlations between the different reproductive traits of A. nemorosa along the latitudinal gradient. We found a clear positive relationship between accumulated temperature and seed and seedling traits: reproductive output of A. nemorosa improved with increasing GDH along the latitudinal gradient. Seed mass and seedling mass, for instance, increased by 9.7% and 10.4%, respectively, for every 1000 degrees C h increase in GDH. We also derived strong correlations between several seed and seedling traits both under field conditions and in incubators. Our results indicate that seed mass, incubator-based germination percentage (Germ%(Inc)) and the output of germinable seeds (product of number of seeds and Germ%(Inc) divided by 100) from plants grown along a latitudinal gradient (i.e. at different temperature regimes) provide valuable proxies to parameterize key population processes in models. We conclude that (1) climate warming may have a pronounced positive impact on sexual reproduction of A. nemorosa and (2) climate models forecasting plant distributions would benefit from including the temperature sensitivity of key seed traits and population processes. Y1 - 2010 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03781127 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2009.04.038 SN - 0378-1127 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Plue, Jan A1 - De Frenne, Pieter A1 - Acharya, Kamal P. A1 - Brunet, Jorg A1 - Chabrerie, Olivier A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Graae, Bente J. A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Kolb, Annette A1 - Lemke, Isgard A1 - Liira, Jaan A1 - Naaf, Tobias A1 - Shevtsova, Anna A1 - Verheyen, Kris A1 - Wulf, Monika A1 - Cousins, Sara A. O. T1 - Climatic control of forest herb seed banks along a latitudinal gradient JF - Global ecology and biogeography : a journal of macroecology N2 - Aim Seed banks are central to the regeneration strategy of many plant species. Any factor altering seed bank density thus affects plant regeneration and population dynamics. Although seed banks are dynamic entities controlled by multiple environmental drivers, climatic factors are the most comprehensive, but still poorly understood. This study investigates how climatic variation structures seed production and resulting seed bank patterns. Location Temperate forests along a 1900km latitudinal gradient in north-western (NW) Europe. Methods Seed production and seed bank density were quantified in 153 plots along the gradient for four forest herbs with different seed longevity: Geum urbanum, Milium effusum, Poa nemoralis and Stachys sylvatica. We tested the importance of climatic and local environmental factors in shaping seed production and seed bank density. Results Seed production was determined by population size, and not by climatic factors. G.urbanum and M.effusum seed bank density declined with decreasing temperature (growing degree days) and/or increasing temperature range (maximum-minimum temperature). P.nemoralis and S.sylvatica seed bank density were limited by population size and not by climatic variables. Seed bank density was also influenced by other, local environmental factors such as soil pH or light availability. Different seed bank patterns emerged due to differential seed longevities. Species with long-lived seeds maintained constant seed bank densities by counteracting the reduced chance of regular years with high seed production at colder northern latitudes. Main conclusions Seed bank patterns show clear interspecific variation in response to climate across the distribution range. Not all seed banking species may be as well equipped to buffer climate change via their seed bank, notably in short-term persistent species. Since the buffering capacity of seed banks is key to species persistence, these results provide crucial information to advance climatic change predictions on range shifts, community and biodiversity responses. KW - Climate change KW - interspecific variation KW - plant-climate interaction KW - seed longevity KW - seed production KW - temperate deciduous forest KW - temperature Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12068 SN - 1466-822X SN - 1466-8238 VL - 22 IS - 10 SP - 1106 EP - 1117 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - de Frenne, Pieter A1 - Kolb, Annette A1 - Verheyen, Kris A1 - Brunet, Johanne A1 - Chabrerie, Olivier A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Eriksson, Ove A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Jõgar, Ülle A1 - Stanton, Sara A1 - Quataert, Paul A1 - Zindel, Renate A1 - Zobel, Martin A1 - Graae, Bente Jessen T1 - Unravelling the effects of temperature, latitude and local environment on the reproduction of forest herbs N2 - Aim To investigate the effect of temperature, latitude and local environment on the reproductive traits of widespread perennial forest herbs to better understand the potential impacts of rising temperatures on their population dynamics and colonization capacities. Location Six regions along a latitudinal gradient from France to Sweden. Methods Within each region, we collected data from three to five populations of up to six species. For each species, several variables were recorded in each region (temperature, latitude) and population (local abiotic and biotic environmental variables), and seed production and germination were estimated. Resource investment in reproduction (RIR) was quantified as seed number ¥ seed mass, while germinable seed output (GSO) was expressed as seed number ¥ germination percentage.We performed linear regression and mixed effect models to investigate the effects of temperature (growing degree hours), latitude and local abiotic and biotic environment on RIR and GSO. Results Temperature and latitude explained most of the variation in RIR and GSO for early flowering species with a northerly distribution range edge (Anemone nemorosa, Paris quadrifolia and Oxalis acetosella). Reproduction of the more southerly distributed species (Brachypodium sylvaticum, Circaea lutetiana and Primula elatior), in contrast, was independent of temperature/latitude. In the late summer species, B. sylvaticum and C. lutetiana, variation in RIR and GSO was best explained by local environmental variables, while none of the investigated variables appeared to be related to reproduction in P. elatior. Main conclusions We showed that reproduction of only two early flowering, northerly distributed species was related to temperature. This suggests that the potential reproductive response of forest herbs to climate warming partly depends on their phenology and distribution, but also that the response is to some extent species dependent. These findings should be taken into account when predictions about future shifts in distribution range are made. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118545893/home U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00487.x SN - 1466-822X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Graae, Bente Jessen A1 - Verheyen, Kris A1 - Kolb, Annette A1 - van der Veken, Sebastian A1 - Heinken, Thilo A1 - Chabrerie, Olivier A1 - Diekmann, Martin A1 - Valtinat, Karin A1 - Zindel, Renate A1 - Karlsson, Elisabeth A1 - Ström, Lotta A1 - Decocq, Guillaume A1 - Hermy, Martin A1 - Baskin, Carol C. T1 - Germination requirements and seed mass of slow- and fast-colonizing temperate forest herbs along a latitudinal gradient N2 - Predictions on displacement of suitable habitats due to climate change suggest that plant species with poor colonization ability may be unable to move fast enough to match forecasted climate-induced changes in habitat distribution. However, studies on early Holocene plant migration show fast migration of many plant species that are poor colonizers today. We hypothesize that warmer temperatures during the early Holocene yielded higher seed quality, contributing to explaining the fast migration. We studied how the 3 seed quality variables, seed mass, germinability, and requirements for break of seed dormancy, vary for seeds of 11 forest herb species with varying colonization capacity collected along a 1400-km latitudinal gradient. Within species, seed mass showed a positive correlation with latitude, whereas germinability was more positively correlated with temperature (growing degree hours obtained at time of seed collection). Only slow-colonizing species increased germinability with temperature, whereas only fast-colonizing species increased germinability with latitude. These interactions were only detectable when analyzing germinability of the seeds, even though this trait and seed mass were correlated. The requirement for dormancy break did not correlate with latitude or temperature. The results indicate that seed development of slow colonizers may be favoured by a warmer climate, which in turn may be important for their migration capacity. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.bioone.org/loi/ecos U6 - https://doi.org/10.2980/16-2-3234 SN - 1195-6860 ER -