Functional diversity, succession, and human-mediated disturbances in raised bog vegetation.
Raised and transitional bogs are one of the most threatened types of ecosystem, due to high specialisation of biota, associated with adaptations to severe environmental conditions. The aim of the study was to characterize the relationships between functional diversity (reflecting ecosystem-shaping processes) of raised bog plant communities and successional gradients (expressed as tree dimensions) and to show how impacts of former clear cuts may alter these relationships in two raised bogs in 'Bory Tucholskie' National Park (N Poland). Herbaceous layers of the plant communities were examined by floristic relevés (25m(2)) on systematically established transects. We also assessed patterns of tree ring widths. There were no relationships between vegetation functional diversity components and successional progress: only functional dispersion was negatively, but weakly, correlated with median DBH. Lack of these relationships may be connected with lack of prevalence of habitat filtering and low level of competition over all the successional phases. Former clear cuts, indicated by peaks of tree ring width, influenced the growth of trees in the bogs studied. In the bog with more intensive clear cuts we found more species with higher trophic requirements, which may indicate nutrient influx. However, we did not observe differences in vegetation patterns, functional traits or functional diversity indices between the two bogs studied. We also did not find an influence of clear cut intensity on relationships between functional diversity indices and successional progress. Thus, we found that alteration of the ecosystems studied by neighbourhood clear cuts did not affect the bogs strongly, as the vegetation was resilient to these impacts. Knowledge of vegetation resilience after clear cuts may be crucial for conservation planning in raised bog ecosystems.
Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, Parkowa 5, 62-035 Kórnik, Poland; Poznań University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Game Management and Forest Protection, Wojska Polskiego 71c, 60-625 Poznań, Poland.
Marcin K
MK
Dyderski
Poznań University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Wojska Polskiego 28, 60-637 Poznań, Poland.
Natalia
N
Czapiewska
Poznań University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Wojska Polskiego 28, 60-637 Poznań, Poland.
Mateusz
M
Zajdler
Poznań University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Wojska Polskiego 28, 60-637 Poznań, Poland.
Jarosław
J
Tyborski
Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, Parkowa 5, 62-035 Kórnik, Poland; Poznań University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, Department of Game Management and Forest Protection, Wojska Polskiego 71c, 60-625 Poznań, Poland. Electronic address: amj@man.poznan.pl.
Andrzej M
AM
Jagodziński
D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D010944:Plants; D011044:Poland; D053833:Wetlands
Clear cuts; Dendrochronology; Functional richness; Nature conservation; Raised bogs; Succession