Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities
Disturbances are key drivers of plant community composition, structure, and function. Plant functional traits, including life forms and reproductive strategies are critical to the resilience and resistance of plant communities in the event of disturbance. Climate change and increasing anthropogenic...
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ftanucanberra:oai:openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au:1885/199764 2024-01-14T10:01:57+01:00 Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities Bowd, Elle Lindenmayer, David B Banks, Samuel Blair, David application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1885/199764 https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1693 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/199764/5/01_Bowd_Logging_and_fire_regimes_alter_2018.pdf.jpg en_AU eng Ecological Society of America 1051-0761 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/199764 doi:10.1002/eap.1693 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/199764/5/01_Bowd_Logging_and_fire_regimes_alter_2018.pdf.jpg © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America Ecological Applications Journal article ftanucanberra https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1693 2023-12-15T09:38:14Z Disturbances are key drivers of plant community composition, structure, and function. Plant functional traits, including life forms and reproductive strategies are critical to the resilience and resistance of plant communities in the event of disturbance. Climate change and increasing anthropogenic disturbance are altering natural disturbance regimes globally. When these regimes shift beyond the adaptive resilience of plant functional traits, local populations and ecosystem functions can become compromised. We tested the influence of multiple disturbances, of varying intensity and frequency, on the composition and abundance of vascular plant communities and their respective functional traits (life forms and reproductive strategies) in the wet sclerophyll, Mountain Ash Eucalyptus regnans forests of southeastern Australia. Specifically, we quantified the effect of the type and number of disturbances (including fires, clearcut logging, and salvage logging) on plant community composition. We found that clearcut and salvage logging and the number of fires significantly influenced plant community composition and functional traits. Specifically, multiple fires resulted in lower populations of species that depend on on‐site seeding for persistence. This includes the common tree species Eucalyptus regnans, Pomaderris aspera, and Acacia dealbata. In contrast, clearcut and salvage logged sites supported abundant on‐site seeder species. However, species that depend on resprouting by surviving individuals, such as common and keystone “tree ferns” Dicksonia antarctica and Cyathea australis, declined significantly. Our data have important implications for understanding the relationship between altered disturbance regimes and plant communities and the respective effects on ecosystem function. In a period of rapid global environmental change, with disturbances predicted to increase and intensify, it is critical to address the impact of altered disturbance regimes on biodiversity. Supporting funding was provided by The ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections Ecological Applications 28 3 826 841 |
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English |
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Disturbances are key drivers of plant community composition, structure, and function. Plant functional traits, including life forms and reproductive strategies are critical to the resilience and resistance of plant communities in the event of disturbance. Climate change and increasing anthropogenic disturbance are altering natural disturbance regimes globally. When these regimes shift beyond the adaptive resilience of plant functional traits, local populations and ecosystem functions can become compromised. We tested the influence of multiple disturbances, of varying intensity and frequency, on the composition and abundance of vascular plant communities and their respective functional traits (life forms and reproductive strategies) in the wet sclerophyll, Mountain Ash Eucalyptus regnans forests of southeastern Australia. Specifically, we quantified the effect of the type and number of disturbances (including fires, clearcut logging, and salvage logging) on plant community composition. We found that clearcut and salvage logging and the number of fires significantly influenced plant community composition and functional traits. Specifically, multiple fires resulted in lower populations of species that depend on on‐site seeding for persistence. This includes the common tree species Eucalyptus regnans, Pomaderris aspera, and Acacia dealbata. In contrast, clearcut and salvage logged sites supported abundant on‐site seeder species. However, species that depend on resprouting by surviving individuals, such as common and keystone “tree ferns” Dicksonia antarctica and Cyathea australis, declined significantly. Our data have important implications for understanding the relationship between altered disturbance regimes and plant communities and the respective effects on ecosystem function. In a period of rapid global environmental change, with disturbances predicted to increase and intensify, it is critical to address the impact of altered disturbance regimes on biodiversity. Supporting funding was provided by The ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bowd, Elle Lindenmayer, David B Banks, Samuel Blair, David |
spellingShingle |
Bowd, Elle Lindenmayer, David B Banks, Samuel Blair, David Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities |
author_facet |
Bowd, Elle Lindenmayer, David B Banks, Samuel Blair, David |
author_sort |
Bowd, Elle |
title |
Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities |
title_short |
Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities |
title_full |
Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities |
title_fullStr |
Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Logging and fire regimes alter plant communities |
title_sort |
logging and fire regimes alter plant communities |
publisher |
Ecological Society of America |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1885/199764 https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1693 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/199764/5/01_Bowd_Logging_and_fire_regimes_alter_2018.pdf.jpg |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_source |
Ecological Applications |
op_relation |
1051-0761 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/199764 doi:10.1002/eap.1693 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/199764/5/01_Bowd_Logging_and_fire_regimes_alter_2018.pdf.jpg |
op_rights |
© 2018 by the Ecological Society of America |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1693 |
container_title |
Ecological Applications |
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28 |
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3 |
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826 |
op_container_end_page |
841 |
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1788056748147343360 |