Relationships between functional diversity and C stocks in different forest ecosystems
Recent studies focused on biodiversity have begun to include the concept of functional diversity, which measures the range, value, and distribution of functional traits of organisms in a community ecosystem (Tilman et al. 1997; Mouchet et al. 2010). It is becoming increasingly accepted that biodiversity components of plant community, i.e. the species identity, abundance and divergence of functional traits, strongly affect ecosystem productivity, functioning, litter decomposition and soil nutrients dynamics (Wardle et al. 2004, 2012; Naeem & Wright 2003; Díaz et al. 2004; Hooper et al. 2005; Mouillot et al. 2005; Cortez et al. 2007; De Deyn et al. 2008).
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Jonsson & Wardle (2009) and Wardle et al. (2012) also giving more support to mass ration hypothesis that communities dominated by acquisitive trait values showed lower below-ground C storage than communities dominated by more conservative trait values in boreal forests. In natural moist seasonal tropical forests, Ruiz-Jaen & Potvin (2011) reported that C stocks associated positively with plant height and leaf mass per area (the inverse of SLA) and negatively with the variety of values of these traits, giving more support to mass-ratio hypothesis while in neighboring plantations, in contrast, they found a negative association of C stocks with plant height and leaf mass per area and a non-significant association with variety of values of these traits, giving more weight to niche-complementarity hypothesis. Thus, it is important to consider both the mass ratio hypothesis and the complementarity hypothesis when functional diversity-C stocks associations are examined. The only study that I am aware is Cavanaugh et al. (2014), in which they partly supported the both hypotheses on the basis of functional dominance and taxonomic diversity (genus richness and Shannon diversity). However, they did not find a significant relationship between functional diversity and ACS. In their study, the functional diversity components were calculated by using the maximum diameter of stem
Species diversity is characterised by the diversity within an ecological community (McGinley, 2014) that incorporates both the total number of species in a region and the degree to which the abundance of each of the species is similar; these concepts are termed species richness and species evenness respectively. The Simpson’s Index of Diversity is a measure of the biodiversity within a community and is derived the number of species and their relative abundances (Knox et al., 2014). The Simpson’s Index of Diversity score ranges from 0-1; the higher the score indicates a higher diversity.
The purpose of this experiment is to observe secondary succession at Umass Dartmouth and test the prediction that diversity increases through ecological succession. Students went outside to the lawn underneath the wind mill on campus. 3 transect sites were located by the instructor. Students predicted the species and percent cover of each species on each trail site. Bar charts were made to compare the number of species in each transect. Pi-charts were made to compare the percent coverage of species in each transect.
The Madagascar Rainforest is home to thousands of different species. 70% of which can’t even be found anywhere else in the world. The rainforest is known for it’s 5 layers of plant and animal life; the overstory , the canopy, the understory, the shrub layer, and the forest floor. The primary focus in this project is the rainforest floor. In the Madagascar Rainforest, the abiotic factors directly impact the biotic factors (Madagascar Lowland Rainforest). An example of this would be with sunlight. Because such a small amount of sunlight reaches the forest floor due to the amount of vegetation from other layers, there isn’t much plant life on the forest floor. However, some plants in the forest have adapted to the lack of sunlight and grow up
“Biological diversity is of fundamental importance to the functioning of all natural and human-engineered ecosystems, and by extension to the ecosystem services that nature provides free of charge to human society ”(Lloyd, 2014). Biodiversity is very important to both plants, animals and humans on Earth and if one species is destroyed it throw the balance off .
Biodiversity loss threatens to disrupt the function of ecosystems, with the potential of consequences for humans as well. Often this loss is measured by species extinction rates, but considerations should be made to include population diversity with measures including changes in size, number, distribution and genetic composition of population and potential implications those changes may have (Luck et al., 2003). Avise (2004) goes as far as to say biodiversity is genetic
Vegetation is a key factor in determining the structure of an ecosystem. It determines many ecological parameters within a plant community such as microclimate, energy budged, photosynthesis, water regimes, surface runoff and soil temperature (Tappeiner and Cernusca, 1996). Vegetation of an area varies from place to place according to habitat heterogeneity of the area itself. The description and classification of the plant community in an ecosystem is known as Phytosociology (Braun-Blanquet, 1932; Odum, 1971). It’s an important characteristic in describing vegetation that offers a preliminary picture of the ecological character of the vegetation (Kershaw, 1973). Each site of study
In the forests of Argentina where the trees stand tall and the soil is moist and fertile, live a variety of dwelling species who are extremely adaptive to the moderate and constant environment. The temperate deciduous forest has a great beauty and countless wonders that make it stand out from many other biomes. With its indifferent temperature and substantial habitats, many animals, like the crab-eating fox, are able to inhabit the environment with the use of many essential adaptations. The very fertile and rich-nutrients soil allow many magnificent vegetation to thrive and succeed. With temperate meaning “not to extreme” or “in moderation” and deciduous meaning “to fall off,” there would
Diversity dependence depends on trophic cascades and the top down (natural enemies) or bottom up (resources available). Top down is the approach where species increase and so does peats and predators and as a result of increased pests the plant density decrease. Bottom up is the approach where the plant population increases, resources will run out, such as nutrients, water and light due to the competition of a higher populated area. The vegetable block would have higher nutrient contents due to added fertiliser during the season and low competition due to a lower plant population is shown by the higher percentage of bare ground demonstrated in figure two. This land area will also have a lower water due to tillage, which dries out the soil moisture. A resource that would be available in the woodland would be shade due to a highly populated area. As the smaller plant species would be in shade most of the time, it would result in a lower photosynthetic rate resulting in a slower development (Martins et al.,
The world’s population continues to grow and there is an ever increasing demand for the production of food and other agricultural commodities for human consumption.The modification and management of our landscapes are having severe effects on the diversity of life in Uk farmlands causing a threat to global biodiversity.
Habitats that contain an environmental gradient, such as the Henderson Levee, attribute to a diverse speciation of plants. There are multiple factors that determine the assortment of species along a disturbance gradient, including competition and the availability of nutrients, water, and light. This paper focuses on the differences in diversity and composition of species in response to an environmental gradient. Three parallel transects were measured along the Henderson Levee and the stems for each species of plants were counted within sampling intervals along those transects. Statistics were used to calculate diversity and to determine how the species changed along the gradient. The diversity of plant species was determined to be highest at the top of the levee for transects 1 and 3 and highest at the bottom of the levee for transect 2.
After I carried out the entire investigation, I got the results showing biodiversity of two different ecosystems trough Simpson`s reciprocal index showed in graph 3. If we look generally on biodiversity index of both ecosystems, in both cases it is higher than 1, meaning that biodiversity index is not low. As the maximum value is equal to the number of species in the sample, we can say that in case of meadow, biodiversity is optimal, at medium
Distribution and establishment of tree species composition in the forest is related to the soil properties (Davies et al. 2005) and belowground community, possibly attributed to host preferences of the different fungi (DeBellis et al. 2006; Ishida et al. 2007; Tedersoo et al. 2008; Diédhiou et al. 2010). Trees in species-rich tropical forests are mostly associated with AM fungi. Janos (1985) and Smits (1994), hypothesize that a specific specification exists between the ECM fungus and host in the tropics compared to the temperate areas. Dipterocarpaceae trees are believed to be host specific to ECM fungi (Stoll and Newberry 2005). The Dipterocarpaceae are an economically important tree family that often dominates the canopy of Southeast Asian rainforests. Dipterocarp species distributions are unrelated to soil texture or pH but are strongly related to soil nutrients. Most dipterocarp trees were significantly associated with soil nutrients, particularly P, Mg
In ecology, the change in species diversity across space and time is one of the oldest studied subjects, however the underlying causes of many diversity patterns is under much debate (Field et al. 2001; MacArthur, 1972; Rosenzweig, 1995). How does diversity arise (Erwin 1991)? How is diversity distributed in space (Dean et al. 1997, Fonseca et al. 2000)? And how is diversity maintained (Lande, 1988)? Are three fundamental questions that ecologist look to answer. Early studies focused around the role of competition in determining diversity at local scales, today however it is emphasized that many factors on top of competition, such
Franck and Brownstone define biological diversity as 'the variety and variability of living organisms and the biological communities in which they live' (36). Decades of progress in both the scientific and political arenas have advanced environmental legislation to protect biodiversity at not only the ecosystem level, but for specific species and genetic material as well. Research has shown the importance of every organism and their role in the global ecosystem, and legislation has gradually matured to protect not only species which may become endangered, but the habitats they need to survive as well. Growing consciousness surrounding environmental issues has enabled these protections to be
Using forest as a carbon stock /diversification of the economic and ecosystem use of the forest