Forest plant species richness in small, fragmented mixed deciduous forest patches: the role of area, time and dispersal limitation

Aim The research aimed to investigate how plant species richness of small, fragmented forest patches changes over time. Also interactions between time and area were studied in relation to species richness. Finally, the relative importance of plant dispersal limitation on the process of species accumulation was examined by investigating how species were distributed within a regional landscape. Location Mixed deciduous forest patches in central Belgium. Methods The land use history of a region of 80 km 2 was reconstructed using nine historical maps dating from 1775 to 1991. Within a central area of 42 km 2 , 241 forest patches were surveyed for presence/absence of 203 species predominantly occurring in forests. Aggregation of species within this region was estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation. Spatial and temporal patterns of species richness were investigated by both regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results Fifty-one of 103 species showed significant spatial aggregation patterns, suggesting severe dispersal limitation. Species richness significantly increased with age. However, the effects of time on species richness could not be separated from area and area and time clearly interacted. Slopes of regression equations for species number on area and patch age were shown to be significantly interrelated. Main conclusions Area and time cannot be treated independently as predictors of plant species richness. Dispersal proved to be important in structuring local forest plant community composition, contrary to most other studies that have investigated local forest plant community structure. The processes of forest succession and species accumulation are controlled by both local and regional processes. More studies focusing on the regional factors determining local community composition are needed in order to fully understand the process of forest plant community assembly.

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

[2]  N. Lust,et al.  Effects of age and distance on the composition of mixed deciduous forest fragments in an agricultural landscape , 2001 .

[3]  R. Macarthur,et al.  AN EQUILIBRIUM THEORY OF INSULAR ZOOGEOGRAPHY , 1963 .

[4]  F. W. Preston.  Time and Space and the Variation of Species , 1960 .

[5]  M. Hermy,et al.  De kolonisatie van jonge bosfragmenten. De rol van ruimtelijke isolatie en implicaties voor bosuitbreiding , 2000 .

[6]  Richard Law,et al.  Regional Species Pools and the Assembly of Local Ecological Communities , 1997 .

[7]  G. Peterken.  Habitat conservation priorities in British and European woodlands , 1977 .

[8]  N. J. Ouborg,et al.  Population genetics, molecular markers and the study of dispersal in plants , 1999 .

[9]  J. Deckers,et al.  Migration of herbaceous plant species across ancient–recent forest ecotones in central Belgium , 1999 .

[10]  P. White,et al.  The distance decay of similarity in biogeography and ecology , 1999 .

[11]  D. Tilman.  Resource competition and community structure. , 1983, Monographs in population biology.

[12]  O. Honnay,et al.  Plant community assembly along dendritic networks of small forest streams , 2001 .

[13]  C. D. Pigott,et al.  The scientific basis of practical conservation: aims and methods of conservation , 1977, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.

[14]  B. Manly.  Randomization, Bootstrap and Monte Carlo Methods in Biology , 2018 .

[15]  G. Matlack.  PLANT SPECIES MIGRATION IN A MIXED-HISTORY FOREST LANDSCAPE IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA' , 1994 .

[16]  R. Macarthur,et al.  The Theory of Island Biogeography , 1969 .

[17]  C. Monk,et al.  Plant Species Diversity in Old‐Field Succession on the Georgia Piedmont , 1974 .

[18]  G. Blust,et al.  Species diversity and area-relationships in Danish beech forests , 1998 .

[19]  H. Jacquemyn,et al.  Differential colonization causing non-random forest plant community structure in a fragmented agricultural landscape , 2001 .

[20]  D Edwards,et al.  The efficiency of simulation-based multiple comparisons. , 1987, Biometrics.

[21]  Z. Dzwonko,et al.  Distribution of vascular plant species in small woodlands on the Western Carpathian foothills , 1989 .

[22]  R. Ricklefs,et al.  Community Diversity: Relative Roles of Local and Regional Processes , 1987, Science.

[23]  Stephen J. Wright,et al.  Light-Gap disturbances, recruitment limitation, and tree diversity in a neotropical forest , 1999, Science.

[24]  Lindsay A. Turnbull,et al.  Are plant populations seed-limited? A review of seed sowing experiments. , 2000 .

[25]  P. Coppin,et al.  Nested plant communities in deciduous forest fragments : species relaxation or nested habitats? , 1999 .

[26]  Dolph Schluter,et al.  Species diversity in ecological communities: historical and geographical perspectives. , 1993 .

[27]  J. Drake,et al.  Ecological Assembly Rules: On the nature of the assembly trajectory , 1999 .

[28]  M. Hermy,et al.  The relative importance of dispersal limitation of vascular plants in secondary forest succession in Muizen Forest, Belgium , 2001 .

[29]  Pol Coppin,et al.  Effects of area, age and diversity of forest patches in Belgium on plant species richness, and implications for conservation and reforestation , 1999 .

[30]  Martin Hermy,et al.  Bossen van Vlaanderen : een historische ecologie , 1993 .

[31]  G. Peterken.  A method for assessing woodland flora for conservation using indicator species , 1974 .

[32]  M. Williamson,et al.  Relationship of species number to area, distance and other variables , 1988 .

[33]  C. Grashof-Bokdam,et al.  Forest species in an agricultural landscape in The Netherlands: effects of habitat fragmentation , 1997 .

[34]  M. Loreau.  Are communities saturated? On the relationship between α, β and γ diversity , 2000 .

[35]  K. Kirby,et al.  Seasonal and observer differences in vascular plant records from British woodlands , 1986 .

[36]  M. Gilpin,et al.  Metapopulation Biology: Ecology, Genetics, and Evolution , 1997 .

[37]  S. Hubbell,et al.  A unified theory of biogeography and relative species abundance and its application to tropical rain forests and coral reefs , 1997, Coral Reefs.

[38]  S. Hubbell,et al.  Spatial patterns in the distribution of tropical tree species. , 2000, Science.

[39]  David Tilman,et al.  COMMUNITY INVASIBILITY, RECRUITMENT LIMITATION, AND GRASSLAND BIODIVERSITY , 1997 .

[40]  Margaret Game,et al.  HISTORICAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF VASCULAR PLANT SPECIES IN THE WOODLANDS OF CENTRAL LINCOLNSHIRE , 1984 .

[41]  Roderick Hunt,et al.  Comparative Plant Ecology: A Functional Approach to Common British Species , 1989 .

[42]  L. Firbank,et al.  An ecological comparison between ancient and other forest plant species of Europe, and the implications for forest conservation , 1999 .