Patterns of AllocationCSRPlant Functional Types in Northern Europe

Alexander B Novakovskiy,Yuriy A Dubrovskiy,Svetlana P Maslova,Igor V Dalke

doi:10.1155/2016/1323614

Alexander B Novakovskiy, Yuriy A Dubrovskiy + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/1323614

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Abstract

Morphological and physiological parameters of 76 vascular plant species typical for Northern Europe were analyzed using Grime’s classification.Cspecies (competitors) have high levels of canopy height, leaf dry weight, and maximal lateral spread.Rspecies (ruderal) have low leaf dry weight, longer flowering period, high rate of photosynthetic capacity and respiration, and high nitrogen content in the leaves. Stress-tolerant (S) species prevailing in habitats with limited resources are small and have low rate of photosynthetic activity and respiration. Principal component analysis (PCA) ordination showed a clear separation of species of different plant functional types according to their morphological and physiological parameters. The first PCA axis showed close relationship with the rate of respiration and photosynthetic activity and allowed us to differentiateSfromRspecies. The second PCA axis correlated with morphological parameters associated with the size of plants and allowed us to differentiateCspecies fromSandRspecies. Using PCA ordination, we developed a model that determines plant functional types in Northern Europe and analyzed plant functional types of several species that are not presented in Grime’s classification. The proposed model has higher accuracy (84%) compared to similar models designed for other climatic zones.

Highlights

Prediction of response of individual species, communities, and ecosystems to the global climate changes and anthropogenic impact is one of the main problems of modern ecology [1, 2]
Grime’s system of plant functional types includes many species of vascular plants that are typical for the herbaceous flora of Great Britain [2, 11]
We identified the CSR strategy for each species as a one of 19 plant functional types that have a minimum distance to the CSR coordinates of species

Summary

Introduction

Prediction of response of individual species, communities, and ecosystems to the global climate changes and anthropogenic impact is one of the main problems of modern ecology [1, 2]. In such studies, it is expedient to consider the plant functional groups of assemblages of species with similar responses to changes in environmental conditions. Conception of life strategies developed by Ramenskii and Grime (the CSR theory) is an example of such generalization [3, 4]. According to the CSR theory, there are three main types of life strategies: competitors, ruderals, and stress-tolerators. Species of different plant functional types have different biomass structure, intensity, and duration of growth processes, photosynthetic capacity and respiration rate, use of assimilates, and features of protective, and adaptive mechanisms and reactions [5,6,7,8,9,10].

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