Effects of land-use types and the exotic species,Hypochaeris radicata,on plant diversity in human-transformed landscapes of the biosphere reserve,Jeju Island,Korea

Land-use and plant invasion influence biodiversity.Understanding the effects of land-use types and invasive plants on the ecosystem is crucial for better management and the development of strategic plans for increasing biodiversity in Jeju Island,Korea,a designated Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Education,Scientific,and Cultural Organization.The effect of the most dominant invasive exotic species,Hypochaeris radicata,on the four land-use types of Jeju Island was investigated.Plant composition,soil characteristics,and plant diversity among four land-use types(cropland,green space,neglected land,and residential)were compared.Among the land-use types,croplands had the most diverse plant composition and the highest richness in exotic and native plant species.Croplands,such as tangerine orchards,which are widely distributed throughout Jeju Island,showed the highest plant diversity because of medium intensity disturbance caused by weed removal.The relative cover of H.radicata did not differ between land-use types.However,H.radicata invasion was negatively related with plant species richness,making this invasive species a threat to the biodiversity of native herbs present in land-use areas.H.radicata adapts to areas with a broad range of soil properties and a variety of land-use types.Therefore,it is crucial to monitor land-use types and patterns of plant invasion to guide the implementation of consistent management and conservation strategies for maintaining ecosystem integrity of the transformed habitat in Jeju Island.

Glade and Forest-Edge Plant Community Attributes for Three Glade Types in Arusha National Park, Tanzania

The aim of the study was to compare glade and forest-glade edge plant community attributes for man-made, upper and lower natural glades. Two plots were set up in twelve glades at 2.5, 12.5 m and three plots in thirteen glades at 2.5, 12.5 and 22.5 m depending on the size of the glade. The results showed that plants total abundance, percentage basal cover, species richness and species diversity for upper and lower natural glades differed significantly p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 respectively and species diversity for man-made glades p < 0.001. Plant species abundance, richness and diversity were highest at the forest-glade edge and decreased towards the glade interior. Plant species composition of the three glades types differed significantly (MRPP: T = -4.51, p < 0.001 and A = 0.17). Grasses’ total abundance and species richness and forbs species diversity differed significantly for man-made glades p < 0.01. For upper natural glades, grasses species richness was highly significant p < 0.001 while for forbs species richness and diversity were significant P < 0.01. Lower natural glades grasses and forbs’ total abundance, species richness and species diversity differed significantly p < 0.01 and p < 0.001 respectively. Growth forms in the lower natural glades were associated with the forest-glade edge or glade interior χ2 = 15.95, df = 4, p Eleusine jaegeri, Heterogon contortus, Senna mimisoides, Digitaria scalarum, Clutia abyssinica) were habitat indicators for disturbed areas, wet humid grey/black clay soils for upper natural glades and three (Solanum incanum, Senna didymobotrya, and Pennistem mezianum, were indicators of overgrazed areas and black clay soils for man-made glades. In conclusion, plant species abundance, richness and diversity were highest at the forest-glade edge and decreased towards the glade interior, while plant species composition differed significantly between the three-glade types. The plant growth form for lower natural glades was associated with forest-glade edge and glade interior.

Functional strategies and distribution of climbing plant communities in different vegetation patches in a subtropical dry forest, central Argentina

Aims In the context of global change,the impacts of forest structure alter-ation on climbing plants in extra-tropical ecosystems are poorly understood.It also remains little explored,the functional strategies among climbing plant species and its relationship with the local-scale distribution of climbing plant communities.Here,we aimed at three goals:(i)we studied how climbing plant community com-position responds to the modification of the original forest structure in a subtropical dry forest;(ii)we characterized climbing plant spe-cies according to functional traits related to the acquisition and use of resources;and(iii)we examined whether functional strategies at the community level are also responding to vegetation structure change,a much less addressed topic in the ecology of climbing plants.Methods The study was carried out in the Chaco forest of Córdoba Mountains,central Argentina.We selected 18 patches of‘native forests’,‘shrublands’and‘Ligustrum lucidum forests’.We counted and identified climbing plant individuals in each patch,including woody and herbaceous species.For each spe-cies,we measured 10 functional traits:leaf area,leaf area ratio,leaf dry matter content,leaf tensile strength,specific leaf area,stem density,wood saturated water content,inter-node length,petiole length and plant cover.We compared climbing plant composition,richness and abundance among the three vegeta-tion types.Then,we assessed trends of functional variation of climbing plant species by performing a principal component analysis.Finally,we investigated whether simple mean,weighted mean and Functional Richness index of principal component analysis(PCA)axes differed among the climbing plant communi-ties of the three vegetation types.Important Findings Multivariate analysis revealed that climbing plant composition of native forests significantly differed from that of shrublands and L.lucidum forests.Also,L.lucidum forests had the lowest climb-ing plant species richness.Functional variation of climbers was explained by three PCA axes:axis 1 represented the resource-use strategy,axis 2 was associated with light-foraging strategy,and axis 3 related to plant size.The most abundant species in native forests presented a more acquisitive functional strategy and larger sizes than those of shrublands and L.lucidum forest.Furthermore,the most abundant species in shrublands had shorter internodes and petioles than the most abundant climbers of the other vegeta-tion types.Finally,the climbing plant community in the native forests had the highest Functional Richness index regarding the resource-use and the size strategies.Here,we demonstrated that there are floristic and functional differences among climb-ing plant communities in patches of three vegetation types in a subtropical dry forest biome.Particularly,we found climbers spreading along three functional axes which were directly related to climbing plant community distribution among the different patches,highlighting their ecological importance and the need of further research.

Microhabitat heterogeneity associated with Vanilla spp.and its influences on the microbial community of leaf litter and soil

The impact of forest microhabitats on physiochemical properties of the soil and that of microbial communities on tropical soils remain poorly understood.To elucidate the effect of tropical forest stand on leaf litter and soil microbial communities,we studied enzyme activities,microbial biomass,and diversity in three distinct microhabitats in terms of plant richness,diameter at breast height(DBH),and physiochemical properties of soil and litter,each associated with a different Vanilla sp.In the soil,positive correlations were found between electrical conductivity(EC)and total organic carbon(TOC)with phosphatase activity,and between nitrogen(N)and water-soluble carbon(WSC)content with urease activity(UA).In the litter,the water content was positively correlated with bacterial and fungal biomass,and N and WSC contents were positively correlated with fungal biomass.Positive correlations were found between plant richness and UA in the soil,plant richness and fungal biomass in the soil and litter,and DBH and fungal biomass in the litter.Amplicon sequencing revealed differences between microhabitats in the relative abundance of some fungal and bacterial taxa and in the bacterial community composition of both litter and soil.Bacterial richness and diversity were different between microhabitats,and,in litter samples,they were negatively correlated with DBH and plant richness,respectively.By contrast,none of the soil and litter physiochemical properties were significantly correlated with microbial diversity.Our results show that significant shifts in enzyme activity,microbial biomass,and diversity in the microhabitats were driven by key abiotic and biotic factors depending on the soil or litter sample type.