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Tsakalos JL, Ottaviani G, Chelli S, Rea A, Elder S, Dobrowolski MP, Mucina L. Plant clonality in a soil-impoverished open ecosystem: insights from southwest Australian shrublands. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2022; 130:981-990. [PMID: 36282998 PMCID: PMC9851296 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Clonality is a key life-history strategy promoting on-spot persistence, space occupancy, resprouting after disturbance, and resource storage, sharing and foraging. These functions provided by clonality can be advantageous under different environmental conditions, including resource-paucity and fire-proneness, which define most mediterranean-type open ecosystems, such as southwest Australian shrublands. Studying clonality-environment links in underexplored mediterranean shrublands could therefore deepen our understanding of the role played by this essential strategy in open ecosystems globally. METHODS We created a new dataset including 463 species, six traits related to clonal growth organs (CGOs; lignotubers, herbaceous and woody rhizomes, stolons, tubers, stem fragments), and edaphic predictors of soil water availability, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from 138 plots. Within two shrubland communities, we explored multivariate clonal patterns and how the diversity of CGOs, and abundance-weighted and unweighted proportions .of clonality in plots changed along with the edaphic gradients. KEY RESULTS We found clonality in 65 % of species; the most frequent were those with lignotubers (28 %) and herbaceous rhizomes (26 %). In multivariate space, plots clustered into two groups, one distinguished by sandy plots and plants with CGOs, the other by clayey plots and non-clonal species. CGO diversity did not vary along the edaphic gradients (only marginally with water availability). The abundance-weighted proportion of clonal species increased with N and decreased with P and water availability, yet these results were CGO-specific. We revealed almost no relationships for unweighted clonality. CONCLUSIONS Clonality is more widespread in shrublands than previously thought, and distinct plant communities are distinguished by specific suites (or lack) of CGOs. We show that weighting belowground traits by aboveground abundance affects the results, with implications for trait-based ecologists using abundance-weighting. We suggest unweighted approaches for belowground organs in open ecosystems until belowground abundance is quantifiable.
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Affiliation(s)
- James L Tsakalos
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, MC, Italy
- Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Gianluigi Ottaviani
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
- Institute of Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Třeboň, Czech Republic
| | - Stefano Chelli
- School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino, Camerino, MC, Italy
| | - Alethea Rea
- Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Scott Elder
- Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Mark P Dobrowolski
- Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Perth, WA, Australia
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
- Iluka Resources Ltd, Perth, WA, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Ladislav Mucina
- Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Perth, WA, Australia
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Centre for Geographic Analysis, Stellenbosch University, Matieland, Stellenbosch, South Africa
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Valliere JM, Ruscalleda Alvarez J, Cross AT, Lewandrowski W, Riviera F, Stevens JC, Tomlinson S, Tudor EP, Wong WS, Yong JWH, Veneklaas EJ. Restoration ecophysiology: an ecophysiological approach to improve restoration strategies and outcomes in severely disturbed landscapes. Restor Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/rec.13571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Justin M. Valliere
- Department of Biology California State University Dominguez Hills Carson CA 90747 U.S.A
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
| | - Jaume Ruscalleda Alvarez
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
| | - Adam T. Cross
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
- EcoHealth Network, 1330 Beacon Street Brookline MA 02446 U.S.A
- School of Molecular and Life Sciences Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
| | - Wolfgang Lewandrowski
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- Kings Park Science Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions Kings Park WA 6005 Australia
| | - Fiamma Riviera
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
| | - Jason C. Stevens
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
- Kings Park Science Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions Kings Park WA 6005 Australia
| | - Sean Tomlinson
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
- Kings Park Science Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions Kings Park WA 6005 Australia
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Adelaide Adelaide SA 5005 Australia
| | - Emily P. Tudor
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- School of Molecular and Life Sciences Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
- Kings Park Science Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions Kings Park WA 6005 Australia
| | - Wei San Wong
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
| | - Jean W. H. Yong
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
- Department of Biosystems and Technology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Alnarp Sweden
| | - Erik J. Veneklaas
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Crawley WA 6009 Australia
- ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration Curtin University Bentley WA 6102 Australia
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Plekhanova E, Niklaus PA, Gastellu-Etchegorry JP, Schaepman-Strub G. How does leaf functional diversity affect the light environment in forest canopies? An in-silico biodiversity experiment. Ecol Modell 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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