Evaluating Short-Term Impacts of Forest Management and Microsite Conditions on Understory Vegetation in Temperate Fir-Beech Forests: Floristic, Ecological, and Trait-Based Perspective
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design and Vegetation Sampling Methodology
2.2. Measurements of Post-Treatment Environmental Conditions
2.3. Data Processing and Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Changes in Species Diversity and Composition
3.2. Linking Environmental Factors and Post-Disturbance Species Composition
3.3. Effects of Treatment Intensity and Within-Sinkhole Position on EIVs and PFTs
3.4. Influence of Pre-Treatment Richness on Post-Treatment Shifts
4. Discussion
4.1. Floristic Perspective
4.2. Ecological and Trait-Based Perspective
4.3. Initial Community Diversity as a Significant Determinant of Post-Disturbance Response
4.4. Potential Silvicultural Implications
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Dependent Variable | Model | Treatment | Position | Year | Treat: Posit | Treat: Year | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chi2 | p | R2LR | F | p | F | p | F | p | F | p | F | p | |
Species diversity metrics | |||||||||||||
Species richness | 184.96 | *** | 0.56 | 5.08 | * | 2.99 | * | 142.59 | *** | - | - | 46.18 | *** |
Shannon index | 14.62 | *** | 0.16 | - | - | - | - | 14.95 | *** | - | - | - | - |
Total cover | 145.88 | *** | 0.49 | 8.07 | ** | 6.27 | *** | 64.97 | *** | 2.17 | * | 28.82 | *** |
Dissimilarity index | 4.43 | * | 0.08 | - | - | / | / | 4.46 | * | / | / | - | - |
Tree sp. richness | 4.76 | * | 0.08 | - | - | - | - | 4.78 | * | - | - | - | - |
Tree sp. cover | ns | ns | ns | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Ellenberg indicator values (EIVs) | |||||||||||||
Light (EIV-L) | 242.43 | *** | 0.62 | 21.52 | *** | 3.20 | * | 203.75 | *** | - | - | 59.69 | *** |
Temperature (EIV-T) | 79.78 | *** | 0.41 | 6.28 | ** | 4.46 | ** | - | - | 2.79 | ** | - | - |
Continentality (EIV-K) | 6.16 | * | 0.15 | - | - | - | - | 6.19 | * | - | - | - | - |
Moisture (EIV-F) | 20.57 | *** | 0.54 | - | - | 5.27 | *** | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Reaction (EIV-R) | 46.34 | *** | 0.49 | - | - | 4.91 | *** | - | - | 2.85 | ** | - | - |
Nutrients (EIV-N) | 46.70 | *** | 0.46 | - | - | 7.62 | *** | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Plant functional traits (CWMs) | |||||||||||||
Plant height | 103.72 | *** | 0.44 | 5.85 | ** | 5.33 | *** | 53.02 | *** | - | - | 18.00 | *** |
Seed mass | 155.15 | *** | 0.53 | - | - | - | - | 74.89 | *** | 2.91 | ** | 22.87 | *** |
SLA | 20.28 | ** | 0.41 | - | - | 2.51 | * | 10.65 | ** | - | - | - | - |
LDMC | ns | ns | ns | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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Kermavnar, J.; Marinšek, A.; Eler, K.; Kutnar, L. Evaluating Short-Term Impacts of Forest Management and Microsite Conditions on Understory Vegetation in Temperate Fir-Beech Forests: Floristic, Ecological, and Trait-Based Perspective. Forests 2019, 10, 909. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10100909
Kermavnar J, Marinšek A, Eler K, Kutnar L. Evaluating Short-Term Impacts of Forest Management and Microsite Conditions on Understory Vegetation in Temperate Fir-Beech Forests: Floristic, Ecological, and Trait-Based Perspective. Forests. 2019; 10(10):909. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10100909
Chicago/Turabian StyleKermavnar, Janez, Aleksander Marinšek, Klemen Eler, and Lado Kutnar. 2019. "Evaluating Short-Term Impacts of Forest Management and Microsite Conditions on Understory Vegetation in Temperate Fir-Beech Forests: Floristic, Ecological, and Trait-Based Perspective" Forests 10, no. 10: 909. https://doi.org/10.3390/f10100909