Global fern and lycophyte richness explained: How regional and local factors shape plot richness

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Anna Weigand
  • Stefan Abrahamczyk
  • Isabelle Aubin
  • Claudia Bita-Nicolae
  • Helge Bruelheide
  • Cesar I. Carvajal-Hernández
  • Daniele Cicuzza
  • Lucas Erickson Nascimento da Costa
  • János Csiky
  • Jürgen Dengler
  • André Luís de Gasper
  • Greg R. Guerin
  • Adriana Hernández-Rojas
  • Ute Jandt
  • Johan Reyes-Chávez
  • Dirk N. Karger
  • Phyo Kay Khine
  • Jürgen Kluge
  • Thorsten Krömer
  • Marcus Lehnert
  • Jonathan Lenoir
  • Gabriel M. Moulatlet
  • Daniela Aros-Mualin
  • Sarah Noben
  • Ingrid Olivares
  • Luis G. Quintanilla
  • Peter B. Reich
  • Laura Salazar
  • Libertad Silva-Mijangos
  • Hanna Tuomisto
  • Patrick Weigelt
  • Gabriela Zuquim
  • Holger Kreft
  • Michael Kessler

Aim: To disentangle the influence of environmental factors at different spatial grains (regional and local) on fern and lycophyte species richness and to ask how regional and plot-level richness are related to each other. Location: Global. Taxon: Ferns and lycophytes. Methods: We explored fern and lycophyte species richness at two spatial grains, regional (hexagonal grid cells of 7,666 km2) and plot level (300–500 m2), in relation to environmental data at regional and local grains (the 7,666 km2 hexagonal grid cells and 4 km2 square grid cells, respectively). For the regional grain, we obtained species richness data for 1,243 spatial units and used them together with climatic and topographical predictors to model global fern richness. For the plot-level grain, we collated a global dataset of nearly 83,000 vegetation plots with a surface area in the range 300–500 m2 in which all fern and lycophyte species had been counted. We used structural equation modelling to identify which regional and local factors have the biggest effect on plot-level fern and lycophyte species richness worldwide. We investigate how plot-level richness is related to modelled regional richness at the plot's location. Results: Plot-level fern and lycophyte species richness were best explained by models allowing a link between regional environment and plot-level richness. A link between regional richness and plot-level richness was essential, as models without it were rejected, while models without the regional environment-plot-level richness link were still valid but had a worse goodness-of-fit value. Plot-level richness showed a hump-shaped relationship with regional richness. Main conclusions: Regional environment and regional fern and lycophyte species richness each are important determinants of plot-level richness, and the inclusion of one does not substitute the inclusion of the other. Plot-level richness increases with regional richness until a saturation point is reached, after which plot-level richness decreases despite increasing regional richness, possibly reflecting species interactions.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Biogeography
Volume47
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)59-71
Number of pages13
ISSN0305-0270
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.01.2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Recent Advances in Intelligent Algorithms for Fault Detection and Diagnosis
  2. The role of spatial ability when fostering mental animation in multimedia learning
  3. Ecologies of Making
  4. Water quantity and quality dynamics of the THC - Tuyamuyun hydroengineering complex - and implications for reservoir operation
  5. Modeling High Aswan Dam Reservoir Morphology Using Remote Sensing to Reduce Evaporation
  6. Adaptive control of the nonlinear dynamic behavior of the cantilever-sample system of an atomic force microscope
  7. Saving (in) a common world
  8. 8th challenge on question answering over linked data (QALD-8)
  9. Detection of oscillations with application in the pantograph control
  10. Multi-Professional Support
  11. Use of design methods, team leaders' goal orientation, and team effectiveness: A follow-up study in software development projects
  12. Foreword to applied data science, demo, and nectar tracks
  13. Multiple
  14. Performance of methods to select landscape metrics for modelling species richness
  15. “Circuits of Commons”: Exploring the Connections Between Economic Lives and the Commons
  16. FaQuAD
  17. Recurring patterns and blueprints of industrial symbioses as structural units for an it tool
  18. Simon Denny
  19. Disentangling trade-offs and synergies around ecosystem services with the influence network framework
  20. New developments in extrusion of profiles with variable curvatures and cross-sections
  21. Development and application of a simplified sampling method for volatile polyfluorinated alkyl substances in indoor and environmental air
  22. Robust Decoupling Control of Contact Forces in Robotic Manipulation
  23. Pathways and mechanisms for catalyzing social impact through Orchestration: Insights from an open social innovation project
  24. Hands in Focus: Sign Language Recognition Via Top-Down Attention
  25. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relations in European forests depend on environmental context.
  26. Embracing scale-dependence to achieve a deeper understanding of biodiversity and its change across communities
  27. Combination of a reduced order state observer and an Extended Kalman Filter for Peltier cells
  28. Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Rolling on the Localized Stress and Strain Induction for Wire + Arc Additive Manufactured Structures
  29. Do we fail to exert self-control because we lack resources or motivation? Competing theories to explain a debated phenomenon