Exploring large vegetation databases to detect temporal trends in species occurrences

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Question: Can vegetation relevé databases be used to analyse species losses and gains in specific vegetation types in Germany over time? Does the type of response (increase or decline in relative frequency) conform to observed large-scale environmental trends in the last decades? Location: Germany. Exploring the German Vegetation Reference Database Halle (GVRD) that was established for forest and grassland vegetation within the framework of German Biodiversity Exploratories. Methods: Use of generalized linear models (GLMs) for testing changes in temporal frequency of plant taxa in a semi-dry grassland data set (Mesobromion) and a beech forest data set (Fagion). Data were either aggregated by year, decade or by a balanced re-sampling approach. Interpretation of the observed changes was based on species traits. Results: In both data sets significant temporal changes were observed, although the frequency of the majority of species remained unchanged. In both data sets, species with a temporal increase in frequency had higher Ellenberg N and F indicator values, compared to species that decreased, thus indicating effects of widespread atmospheric nitrogen deposition. In the forest data set, the observed increase in recruitment of deciduous trees pointed to a change in management, while trends in the grassland data set suggested use abandonment, as seen in an increased frequency of woody species. Conclusion: We demonstrate that vegetation databases represent very valuable resources for analysis of temporal changes in species frequencies. GLMs proved their value in detecting these trends, as also shown by the interpretability of model results with species traits. In contrast, the method of aggregation or re-sampling had little influence on the general outcome of analyses.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Vegetation Science
Volume22
Issue number6
Pages (from-to)957-972
Number of pages16
ISSN1100-9233
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.12.2011

    Research areas

  • Ecosystems Research - Beech forest, Generalized linear model, German Biodiversity Exploratories, German Vegetation Reference Database (GVRD), Semi-dry grassland

Recently viewed

Activities

  1. Employer Longevity Readiness Index Workshop: Session 2: How do you build a longevity readiness Index?
  2. Travelling Codes
  3. Research Workshop “Innovation and Value Creation” - 2009
  4. How does tree sapling diversity influence browsing intensity by deer across spatial scales?
  5. On Borders, Boundaries, Clouds, and Globalization. And on China.
  6. ‘Thinking the Problematic‘
  7. Digitalization and Organizational Learning: Use the Double-Loop
  8. Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2023
  9. Harvard Universität
  10. Mathematical and Computational Applications (Fachzeitschrift)
  11. Project Workshop on "Worker Flows, Match Quality, and Productivity" - 2019
  12. Curating Diversity in Global Performance Art
  13. Evaluation of tension-compression asymmetry in nanocrystalline PdAu using a Drucker-Prager type constitutive model.
  14. Symposium "Art and its Frames - Continuity and Change" 2014
  15. Comfort and Intervention Behavior of Drivers in Highly Automated Vehicles with Headway Control
  16. International Conference of EAS and ISME - 2007
  17. Migrations of Knowledge - Migknow 2014
  18. The Predictive Power of Social Media Sentiment for Short-Term Stock Movements
  19. Co-creating transformative processes - a designerly approach
  20. Education for Sustainable Development – Experiences from Theory and Practice
  21. Requests in Nigerian and British English conversational interactions: A corpus-based approach.
  22. Research Workshop “Innovation & Value Creation"
  23. 3rd International Conference on Innovations in Bio-Inspired Computing and Applications: Program Committee Member - IBICA2012
  24. Prototypes: The Usefulf Ambiguity of the „Biological Computer" (Annual Meeting of the AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CYBERNETICS)
  25. Video or Text Cases in Problem-Oriented or Direct Instructional Settings for Preservice Teachers?
  26. Agile Portfolio Management Patterns - A Research Design
  27. Co-creating transformative processes - a designerly approach
  28. HOW SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING CONTRIBUTES TO IMPROVED INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND MANAGEMENT CONTROL
  29. Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Law