title: Global assessment of the effects of terrestrial acidification on plant species richness.
abstract: This study estimates the potential losses of vascular plant species richness due to terrestrial acidification for different world's biomes. We used empirical occurrence data of 2409 species from 140 studies and estimated the relative species richness - pH response curves using logistic regressions. The regressions were then used to quantify the fraction of species that are potentially lost due to soil pH changes. Although we found considerable variability within biomes, out results show that the pH at which species richness was maximized was found to be the lowest in (sub)tropical forests (pH = 4.1) and the highest in deserts (pH = 7.4). We also found that (sub)tropical moist forests are highly sensitive to decreases of in soil pH below 4.1. This study can be coupled with existing atmospheric deposition models to quantify the risk of species richness loss following soil acidification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands. l.azevedo@science.ru.nl
authors.forename: Ligia B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.forename: Rosalie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Zelm
authors.forename: A Jan
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hendriks
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bobbink
authors.forename: Mark A J
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Huijbregts
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification* / Q000187:drug effects; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil