Which plant traits predict species loss in calcareous grasslands with extinction debt?

Aim  Habitat loss and degradation pose a major threat to biodiversity, which can result in the extinction of habitat characteristic species. However, many species exhibit a delayed response to environmental changes because of the slow intrinsic dynamics of populations, resulting in extinction debt. We assess directly the changes in habitat characteristic species composition by comparing historical (1923) and current inventories in highly fragmented grasslands. We aim to characterize the species that constitute extinction debt in European calcareous grasslands.

[1]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[2]  M. Pärtel,et al.  Effect of habitat area and isolation on plant trait distribution in European forests and grasslands , 2012 .

[3]  Fiona J. Thomson,et al.  Seed dispersal distance is more strongly correlated with plant height than with seed mass , 2011 .

[4]  G. Mahy,et al.  Testing coexistence of extinction debt and colonization credit in fragmented calcareous grasslands with complex historical dynamics , 2011, Landscape Ecology.

[5]  P. Poschlod,et al.  Plant species extinction debt in a temperate biodiversity hotspot: Community, species and functional traits approaches , 2011 .

[6]  O. Eriksson,et al.  Remnant Populations and Plant Functional Traits in Abandoned Semi-Natural Grasslands , 2011, Folia Geobotanica.

[7]  Campbell O. Webb,et al.  Picante: R tools for integrating phylogenies and ecology , 2010, Bioinform..

[8]  M. Pärtel,et al.  Indirect evidence for an extinction debt of grassland butterflies half century after habitat loss , 2010 .

[9]  M. Pärtel,et al.  Habitat fragmentation causes immediate and time-delayed biodiversity loss at different trophic levels , 2010, Ecology letters.

[10]  S. Jackson,et al.  Balancing biodiversity in a changing environment: extinction debt, immigration credit and species turnover. , 2010, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[11]  M. Pärtel,et al.  Human influence lowers plant genetic diversity in communities with extinction debt , 2009 .

[12]  M. Pärtel,et al.  Extinction debt: a challenge for biodiversity conservation. , 2009, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[13]  B. E. Giles,et al.  Darwin's wind hypothesis: does it work for plant dispersal in fragmented habitats? , 2009, The New phytologist.

[14]  J. Morgan,et al.  Functional traits and prior abundance explain native plant extirpation in a fragmented woodland landscape , 2009 .

[15]  S. Cousins Extinction debt in fragmented grasslands: paid or not? , 2009 .

[16]  J. Cahill,et al.  Shoot, but not root, competition reduces community diversity in experimental mesocosms , 2009 .

[17]  P. Poschlod,et al.  Dispersal failure contributes to plant losses in NW Europe. , 2009, Ecology letters.

[18]  N. Cooper,et al.  Modelling extinction risk in multispecies data sets: phylogenetically independent contrasts versus decision trees , 2009, Biodiversity and Conservation.

[19]  Brendan A. Wintle,et al.  When have we looked hard enough? A novel method for setting minimum survey effort protocols for flora surveys , 2008 .

[20]  Martin Hermy,et al.  The LEDA Traitbase: a database of life‐history traits of the Northwest European flora , 2008 .

[21]  T. Kull,et al.  Habitat preferences and distribution characteristics are indicative of species long-term persistence in the Estonian flora , 2008, Biodiversity and Conservation.

[22]  P. Poschlod,et al.  Eutrophication and fragmentation are related to species’ rate of decline but not to species rarity: results from a functional approach , 2008, Biodiversity and Conservation.

[23]  K. McConway,et al.  Prediction of extinction in plants: interaction of extrinsic threats and life history traits. , 2007, Ecology.

[24]  J. Caspersen,et al.  Floral free fall in the Swiss lowlands: environmental determinants of local plant extinction in a peri‐urban landscape , 2007 .

[25]  R. Lindborg Evaluating the distribution of plant life‐history traits in relation to current and historical landscape configurations , 2007 .

[26]  T. Reitalu,et al.  Grassland diversity related to the Late Iron Age human population density , 2007 .

[27]  Z. Münzbergová,et al.  Importance of species traits for species distribution in fragmented landscapes. , 2007, Ecology.

[28]  O. Honnay,et al.  No evidence of a plant extinction debt in highly fragmented calcareous grassland in Belgium. , 2006, Communications in agricultural and applied biological sciences.

[29]  M. Hermy,et al.  Does the heathland flora in north-western Belgium show an extinction debt? , 2006 .

[30]  M. Aizen,et al.  Plant reproductive susceptibility to habitat fragmentation: review and synthesis through a meta-analysis. , 2006, Ecology letters.

[31]  Martin Hermy,et al.  Extinction debt of forest plants persists for more than a century following habitat fragmentation. , 2006, Ecology.

[32]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  Slow response of plant species richness to habitat loss and fragmentation. , 2005, Ecology letters.

[33]  N. J. Ouborg,et al.  The rough edges of the conservation genetics paradigm for plants , 2006 .

[34]  K. Walker,et al.  Ecological Predictors of Extinction Risk in the Flora of Lowland England, UK , 2006, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[35]  Michael A. McCarthy,et al.  Plant traits and local extinctions in natural grasslands along an urban–rural gradient , 2005 .

[36]  M. Diekmann,et al.  Effects of Life‐History Traits on Responses of Plant Species to Forest Fragmentation , 2005 .

[37]  O. Honnay,et al.  The role of fragment area and isolation in the conservation of heathland species , 2005 .

[38]  M. Pärtel,et al.  Biodiversity in temperate European grasslands: origin and conservation. , 2005 .

[39]  K. Nackaerts,et al.  Plant species richness and composition of heathland relics in north‐western Belgium: evidence for a rescue‐effect? , 2004 .

[40]  J. Schaminée,et al.  Dispersal potential in plant communities depends on environmental conditions , 2004 .

[41]  O. Eriksson,et al.  Effects of Restoration on Plant Species Richness and Composition in Scandinavian Semi‐Natural Grasslands , 2004 .

[42]  M. Westoby,et al.  Seedling survival and seed size: a synthesis of the literature , 2004 .

[43]  M. Westoby,et al.  Small‐seeded species produce more seeds per square metre of canopy per year, but not per individual per lifetime , 2004 .

[44]  Helen T. Murphy,et al.  Context and connectivity in plant metapopulations and landscape mosaics: does the matrix matter? , 2004 .

[45]  Korbinian Strimmer,et al.  APE: Analyses of Phylogenetics and Evolution in R language , 2004, Bioinform..

[46]  O. Eriksson,et al.  Trade-offs between dispersal and competitive ability: a comparative study of wind-dispersed Asteraceae forbs , 2003, Evolutionary Ecology.

[47]  O. Eriksson,et al.  Recruitment trade-offs and the evolution of dispersal mechanisms in plants , 1999, Evolutionary Ecology.

[48]  M. Pärtel,et al.  Landscape history of a calcareous (alvar) grassland in Hanila, western Estonia, during the last three hundred years , 1999, Landscape Ecology.

[49]  T. Dutoit,et al.  Permanent seed banks in chalk grassland under various management regimes: their role in the restoration of species-rich plant communities , 1995, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[50]  M. Hermy,et al.  Plant species loss in an urban area (Turnhout, Belgium) from 1880 to 1999 and its environmental determinants , 2004 .

[51]  P. Roche,et al.  Land use history and botanical changes in the calcareous hillsides of Upper-Normandy (north-western France): new implications for their conservation management , 2004 .

[52]  Jonathan M. Chase,et al.  Trade‐offs in community ecology: linking spatial scales and species coexistence , 2004 .

[53]  L. Fahrig Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Biodiversity , 2003 .

[54]  T. Garland,et al.  TESTING FOR PHYLOGENETIC SIGNAL IN COMPARATIVE DATA: BEHAVIORAL TRAITS ARE MORE LABILE , 2003, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[55]  W. Durka,et al.  Frequency of plant species in remnants of calcareous grassland and their dispersal and persistence characteristics , 2003 .

[56]  G. Heil,et al.  Reduced colonization capacity in fragmented populations of wind‐dispersed grassland forbs , 2002 .

[57]  E. Paradis,et al.  Analysis of comparative data using generalized estimating equations. , 2002, Journal of theoretical biology.

[58]  O. Ovaskainen,et al.  Extinction Debt at Extinction Threshold , 2002 .

[59]  L. Keller,et al.  Inbreeding effects in wild populations. , 2002 .

[60]  Johan Ehrlén,et al.  DISPERSAL LIMITATION AND PATCH OCCUPANCY IN FOREST HERBS , 2000 .

[61]  J. Pykälä,et al.  Mitigating Human Effects on European Biodiversity through Traditional Animal Husbandry , 2000 .

[62]  O. Eriksson,et al.  A comparative study of seed number, seed size, seedling size and recruitment in grassland plants , 2000 .

[63]  P. Poschlod,et al.  Databases on life history traits as a tool for risk assessment in plant species. , 2000 .

[64]  M. Roderick,et al.  Challenging Theophrastus: A common core list of plant traits for functional ecology , 1999 .

[65]  M. Pärtel,et al.  Alvar grasslands in Estonia: variation in species composition and community structure , 1999 .

[66]  O. Eriksson,et al.  Abundance, distribution and life histories of grassland plants: a comparative study of 81 species , 1998 .

[67]  M. Fischer,et al.  Local Extinctions of Plants in Remnants of Extensively Used Calcareous Grasslands 1950 –1985 , 1997 .

[68]  M. Westoby,et al.  Comparative ecology of seed size and dispersal , 1996 .

[69]  J. Bakker,et al.  The Soil Seed Banks of North West Europe: Methodology, Density and Longevity , 1996 .

[70]  M. Nowak,et al.  Habitat destruction and the extinction debt , 1994, Nature.

[71]  Alastair H. Fitter,et al.  The ecological flora database. , 1994 .

[72]  Ruprecht Düll,et al.  Zeigerwerte von Pflanzen in Mitteleuropa , 1992 .

[73]  Andy Purvis,et al.  Comparative methods for explaining adaptations , 1991, Nature.

[74]  J. P. Grime,et al.  Comparative Plant Ecology , 1988, Springer Netherlands.

[75]  J. Felsenstein Phylogenies and the Comparative Method , 1985, The American Naturalist.

[76]  H. Reyntens,et al.  THE GRASSLANDS OF BELGIUM , 1955 .