Data from: Taxonomic and functional turnover are decoupled in European peat bogs

• Main Authors: Robroek, Bjorn J. M., Jassey, Vincent E. J., Payne, Richard J., Martí, Magalí, Bragazza, Luca, Bleeker, Albert, Buttler, Alexandre, Caporn, Simon J. M., Dise, Nancy B., Kattge, Jens, Zając, Katarzyna, Svensson, Bo H., van Ruijven, Jasper, Verhoeven, Jos T. A.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2018
• Subjects: Sphagnum tenellum; Vaccinium oxycoccus; Sphagnum capillifolium; Empetrum nigrum; Hypnales; Vaccinium vitis-idea; Sphagnum pulchrum; Sphagnum russowii; Rhynchospora alba; Sphagnum section Sphagnum; Sphagnum section Cuspidata; Bryales; Erica tetralix; peatland ecology; Vaccimium oxycoccos; Sphagnum section Acutifolia; Sphagnum compactum; Sphagnum magellanicum; Carex rostrata; Myrica gale; Sphagnum fuscum; Drosera anglica; Carex limosa; Ledum palustre; Sphagnum cuspidatum; Sphagnum majus; Sphagnum fallax; Betula nana; Sphagnum austinii; Andromeda polifolia; Holocene; Sphagnum balticum; Narthecium ossifragum; Polytrichales; Carex pauciflora; Eriophorum vaginatum; Sphagnum papillosum; Pinus sylvestris; Vaccinium microcarpon; Sphagnum lindbergii; Sphagnum angustifolium; Cladonia spp; Eriophorum angustifolium; Scheuchzeria palustris; Sphagnum rubellum; Vaccinium oxycoccos; environmental gradients; Sphagnum flexuosum; Betula pubescens; Funariales
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.g1pk3

In peatland ecosystems, plant communities mediate a globally significant carbon store. The effects of global environmental change on plant assemblages are expected to be a factor in determining how ecosystem functions such as carbon uptake will respond. Using vegetation data from 56 Sphagnum-dominated peat bogs across Europe, we show that in these ecosystems plant species aggregate into two major clusters that are each defined by shared response to environmental conditions. Across environmental gradients, we find significant taxonomic turnover in both clusters. However, functional identity and functional redundancy of the community as a whole remain unchanged. This strongly suggests that in peat bogs, species turnover across environmental gradients is restricted to functionally similar species. Our results demonstrate that plant taxonomic and functional turnover are decoupled, which may allow these peat bogs to maintain ecosystem functioning when subject to future environmental change. Environmental data Bioclimatic data and environmental data for all 56 European peatland site (geo referenced by longitude [long], latitude [lat] and altitude [ALT]. MAT = Mean annual temperature (°C), TS = Seasonality in temperature, MAP = Mean annual precipitation (mm), PS = Seasonality in precipitation, tot_sox = Total sulphur deposition SOx (mg m-2 yr-1), tot_noy = Total oxidized nitrogen deposition (mg m-2 yr-1), tot_nhx = Total reduced nitrogen deposition (mg m-2), PT warm = Lang's moisture index. The four bioclimatic variables (MAT, TS, MAP, PS) were extracted from the WorldClim database (Hijmans, R. J., Cameron, S. E., Parra, J. L., Jones, P. G. & Jarvis, A. Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. Int. J. Climatol. 25, 1965–1978 (2005)), and averaged over the 2000-2009 period. Atmospheric deposition data were produced using the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme)-based IDEM (Integrated Deposition Model) model (Pieterse, G., Bleeker, A., Vermeulen, A. T., Wu, Y. & ...