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.