Abstract
Many grasslands have disappeared over the last century as a result of anthropogenic land use intensification, while new patches are emerging through abandonment of arable fields. Here, we compared species (SD), functional (FD) and phylogenetic (PD) (alpha) diversity among 272 dry grassland patches of two age-classes: old and new, with the new patches being dry grasslands established on previous intensively managed fields during the last 30 years. We first compared SD, FD and PD, between patches of different age. Then, we performed generalized linear models to determine the influence of abiotic, present-day and historical landscape configuration variables on SD, FD and PD. By measuring abiotic variables, we explained the effect of environmental filtering on species diversity, whereas the present-day and historical landscape configuration variables were included to describe how the spatial and temporal configuration of the patches influence patterns of species. Finally, we applied partial regressions to explore the relative importance of abiotic, present-day and historical variables in explaining the diversity metrics and how this varies between patches of different ages. We found higher SD in the old compared to the new patches, but no changes in FD and PD. SD was mostly affected by abiotic and present-day landscape configuration variables in the new and the old patches, respectively. In the new patches, historical variables explained variation in the FD, while present-day variables explained the PD. In the old patches, historical variables accounted for most of the variation in both FD and PD. Our evidence suggests that the relative importance of assembly processes has changed over time, showing that environmental filtering and changes in the landscape configuration prevented the establishment of species in the new patches. However, the loss of species (i.e. SD) is not necessarily linked to a loss of functions and evolutionary potential.
Highlights
The impact of anthropogenic land use changes on local habitat conditions and landscape configuration often cause species loss and community composition change, affecting the regional persistence of plant species [1, 2]
We found that 22 species were present in the old patches and absent in the new ones: Anthericum ramosum, Artemisia campestris, Asperula tinctioria, Aster linosyris, Campanula glomerata, Cirsium panonicum, Coronilla vaginalis, Globularia punctata, Gymnadenia conopsea, Laserpitium latifolium, Linum flavum, L. tenuifolium, Listera ovata, Melampyrum cristatum, Onobrichis viciifolia, Peucedanum oreoselinum, Pulsatilla pratensis, Scabiosa canescens, Scorzonera hispanica, Seseli hippomarathrum, Sesleria albicans and Thesium linophyllon
In the case of historical landscape configuration variables, we observed in the old patches a higher species diversity (SD) in older and less isolated patches in 1843 and 1980, whereas SD in the new patches was higher in isolated patches in 1843
Summary
No specific permissions were required for performing this study. All the fieldwork was done on a freely accessible land, so no permission to enter specific locations was required. The study area (8 × 8 km) is situated in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic (NW corner: 50 ̊ 33’19” N, 14 ̊15’6” E, SE corner: 50 ̊29’45” N, 14 ̊22’31” E; see [7] for details) (S1 Fig). The landscape is a mosaic of calcareous dry grasslands (alliance Bromion erecti, [50]), surrounded by shrubs and large agricultural fields. Many new grasslands raised in the area after abandonment of the fields that were intensively managed since the mid-20th century (S1 Table and S1 Fig). Agricultural land covers more than 70% and dry grasslands occur in small fragments totaling 4% of the study area [6]
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