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AOBPreview originally published online on November 3, 2006
Annals of Botany 2007 99(5):967-985; doi:10.1093/aob/mcl215
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Assessing the Effects of Land-use Change on Plant Traits, Communities and Ecosystem Functioning in Grasslands: A Standardized Methodology and Lessons from an Application to 11 European Sites

Eric Garnier1,*, Sandra Lavorel2, Pauline Ansquer3, Helena Castro4, Pablo Cruz3, Jiri Dolezal5, Ove Eriksson6, Claire Fortunel1, Helena Freitas4, Carly Golodets7, Karl Grigulis2, Claire Jouany3, Elena Kazakou1, Jaime Kigel7, Michael Kleyer8, Veiko Lehsten8, Jan Leps5, Tonia Meier8, Robin Pakeman9, Maria Papadimitriou10, Vasilios P. Papanastasis10, Helen Quested6, Fabien Quétier2, Matt Robson2, Catherine Roumet1, Graciela Rusch11, Christina Skarpe11, Marcelo Sternberg12, Jean-Pierre Theau3, Aurélie Thébault2,{dagger}, Denis Vile1,13,{ddagger} and Maria P. Zarovali10

1 CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
2 Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine (CNRS UMR 5553) and Station Alpine Joseph Fourier (UMS-UJF-CNRS 2925), Université Joseph Fourier, BP 53, F-38042 Grenoble, Cedex 09, France
3 UMR 1248 ARCHE, Équipe ORPHEE, INRA, BP 52627, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France
4 Department of Botany, University of Coimbra, 3000 Coimbra, Portugal
5 University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Botany Department, Na Sadkach 7, Ceske Budejovice 37005, Czech Republic
6 Department of Botany, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 106 91, Sweden
7 Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel
8 Landscape Ecology Group, University of Oldenburg, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany
9 The Macaulay Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
10 Laboratory of Rangeland Ecology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece
11 Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Tungasletta 2, 7485 Trondheim, Norway
12 Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
13 Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (QC), Canada J1K2R1

* For correspondence. E-mail eric.garnier{at}cefe.cnrs.fr

Received: 29 May 2006    Returned for revision: 25 July 2006    Accepted: 24 August 2006    Published electronically: 3 November 2006

Background and Aims: A standardized methodology to assess the impacts of land-use changes on vegetation and ecosystem functioning is presented. It assumes that species traits are central to these impacts, and is designed to be applicable in different historical, climatic contexts and local settings. Preliminary results are presented to show its applicability.

Methods: Eleven sites, representative of various types of land-use changes occurring in marginal agro-ecosystems across Europe and Israel, were selected. Climatic data were obtained at the site level; soil data, disturbance and nutrition indices were described at the plot level within sites. Sixteen traits describing plant stature, leaf characteristics and reproductive phase were recorded on the most abundant species of each treatment. These data were combined with species abundance to calculate trait values weighed by the abundance of species in the communities. The ecosystem properties selected were components of above-ground net primary productivity and decomposition of litter.

Key Results: The wide variety of land-use systems that characterize marginal landscapes across Europe was reflected by the different disturbance indices, and were also reflected in soil and/or nutrient availability gradients. The trait toolkit allowed us to describe adequately the functional response of vegetation to land-use changes, but we suggest that some traits (vegetative plant height, stem dry matter content) should be omitted in studies involving mainly herbaceous species. Using the example of the relationship between leaf dry matter content and above-ground dead material, we demonstrate how the data collected may be used to analyse direct effects of climate and land use on ecosystem properties vs. indirect effects via changes in plant traits.

Conclusions: This work shows the applicability of a set of protocols that can be widely applied to assess the impacts of global change drivers on species, communities and ecosystems.

Key words: Climate gradient, disturbance, ecosystem properties, European marginal agriculture, land-use change, methods, nutrient limitation, plant community, plant functional traits, soil properties

{dagger} Present address: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Laboratory of Ecological Systems, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

{ddagger} Present address: NRA, Unité d'Agronomie (UR 874), Fonctionnement et Gestion de l'Ecosystéme Prairial, 234 avenue du Brezet, Site de Crouël, 63100 Clermont-Ferrand, France.


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