Landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation
Summary 1. Differing responses in riparian species richness and composition to disturbance have been reported as a possible explanation for the differences along and between rivers. This paper explores the role of physical disturbance in shaping landscape‐scale patterns of species distribution in ri...
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crwiley:10.1111/j.1365-2427.2008.02057.x 2023-12-03T10:27:57+01:00 Landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation RENÖFÄLT, BIRGITTA MALM NILSSON, CHRISTER 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2008.02057.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2427.2008.02057.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2008.02057.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Freshwater Biology volume 53, issue 11, page 2244-2255 ISSN 0046-5070 1365-2427 Aquatic Science journal-article 2008 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2008.02057.x 2023-11-09T13:25:48Z Summary 1. Differing responses in riparian species richness and composition to disturbance have been reported as a possible explanation for the differences along and between rivers. This paper explores the role of physical disturbance in shaping landscape‐scale patterns of species distribution in riparian vegetation along a free‐flowing river in northern Sweden. 2. To test whether sensitivity to disturbance varies across large landscapes, we experimentally disturbed riparian vegetation along an entire, free‐flowing river by scouring the soil and the vegetation turf, cutting vegetation, applying waterborne plant litter, and after a period of recovery we measured vegetation responses. The experiment was repeated for two consecutive years. 3. We found no significant effect of disturbance on species composition, but all three forms of disturbance significantly reduced species richness. There was no downstream variation in community responses to disturbance but morphological groups of species responded differently to different kinds of disturbance. Graminoids were most resistant, suppressed only by litter burial. All forms of disturbance except cutting reduced the density of herbaceous species, and species density of trees + shrubs and dwarf shrubs was negatively affected by both scouring and cutting. We also evaluated the effects of disturbance in relation to varying levels of species richness. In nearly all cases, responses were significantly negatively correlated with control plot species richness, and relative responses indicated that species‐rich plots were less resistant to scouring and cutting. 4. Our results suggest that although all disturbance treatments had an effect on species richness, variation in sensitivity to disturbance is not the most important factor shaping landscape‐scale patterns of riparian plant species richness along rivers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) Freshwater Biology 53 11 2244 2255 |
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Wiley Online Library (via Crossref) |
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English |
topic |
Aquatic Science |
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Aquatic Science RENÖFÄLT, BIRGITTA MALM NILSSON, CHRISTER Landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation |
topic_facet |
Aquatic Science |
description |
Summary 1. Differing responses in riparian species richness and composition to disturbance have been reported as a possible explanation for the differences along and between rivers. This paper explores the role of physical disturbance in shaping landscape‐scale patterns of species distribution in riparian vegetation along a free‐flowing river in northern Sweden. 2. To test whether sensitivity to disturbance varies across large landscapes, we experimentally disturbed riparian vegetation along an entire, free‐flowing river by scouring the soil and the vegetation turf, cutting vegetation, applying waterborne plant litter, and after a period of recovery we measured vegetation responses. The experiment was repeated for two consecutive years. 3. We found no significant effect of disturbance on species composition, but all three forms of disturbance significantly reduced species richness. There was no downstream variation in community responses to disturbance but morphological groups of species responded differently to different kinds of disturbance. Graminoids were most resistant, suppressed only by litter burial. All forms of disturbance except cutting reduced the density of herbaceous species, and species density of trees + shrubs and dwarf shrubs was negatively affected by both scouring and cutting. We also evaluated the effects of disturbance in relation to varying levels of species richness. In nearly all cases, responses were significantly negatively correlated with control plot species richness, and relative responses indicated that species‐rich plots were less resistant to scouring and cutting. 4. Our results suggest that although all disturbance treatments had an effect on species richness, variation in sensitivity to disturbance is not the most important factor shaping landscape‐scale patterns of riparian plant species richness along rivers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
RENÖFÄLT, BIRGITTA MALM NILSSON, CHRISTER |
author_facet |
RENÖFÄLT, BIRGITTA MALM NILSSON, CHRISTER |
author_sort |
RENÖFÄLT, BIRGITTA MALM |
title |
Landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation |
title_short |
Landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation |
title_full |
Landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation |
title_fullStr |
Landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation |
title_sort |
landscape scale effects of disturbance on riparian vegetation |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2008.02057.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2427.2008.02057.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2008.02057.x |
genre |
Northern Sweden |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden |
op_source |
Freshwater Biology volume 53, issue 11, page 2244-2255 ISSN 0046-5070 1365-2427 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2008.02057.x |
container_title |
Freshwater Biology |
container_volume |
53 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
2244 |
op_container_end_page |
2255 |
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1784277926589497344 |