Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy

Vegetation is often classified through phytosociology, which defines floristically and ecologically coherent units identified by diagnostic species. Since species- and community-environment relations are regulated by plant functional traits, it is likely that phytosociology has a strong functional u...

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Autores principales:	Zanzottera M, Dalle Fratte M, Caccianiga M, Pierce S, Cerabolini BEL
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF) 2021
Materias:	CSR Adaptive Strategies Forests Shrublands Global Spectrum Neophytes Plant Functional Traits Forestry SD1-669.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/3d79c3d366874b8a918e63a339ce4305
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:3d79c3d366874b8a918e63a339ce43052021-11-22T18:30:00ZTowards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy1971-745810.3832/ifor3730-014https://doaj.org/article/3d79c3d366874b8a918e63a339ce43052021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://iforest.sisef.org/contents/?id=ifor3730-014https://doaj.org/toc/1971-7458Vegetation is often classified through phytosociology, which defines floristically and ecologically coherent units identified by diagnostic species. Since species- and community-environment relations are regulated by plant functional traits, it is likely that phytosociology has a strong functional underpinning, although the past and current phytosociology does not explicitly tackle this issue. Here we provide an analysis of functional traits of 221 woody species from Northern Italy, diagnostic of 21 European woody vegetation classes (including alien dominated ones). We assessed whether the functional space occupied by selected species corresponds to the physiognomy and ecology of the vegetation they represent, and whether this could help to evaluate major threats, such as invasion by alien species. For each species we collected from Authors’ datasets leaf trait data (leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, carbon to nitrogen ratio, leaf nitrogen content) and whole plant (plant height, seed mass) traits, and calculated Competitor, Stress-tolerant, Ruderal (CSR) scores. We identified the multidimensional functional trait space of diagnostic species and clustered classes according to their scores in the functional space, to check whether their physiognomy was coherently represented and mirrored in the CSR space. Lastly, we tested for differences between native and neophyte species and their overlap with classes. Diagnostic species mirrored the global spectrum of plant form and function, and classes showed a functional pattern coherent with their physiognomy and ecology. Evergreen dominated classes showed a similar convergence toward conservative characteristics and the stress-tolerant strategy, as opposed to deciduous forest classes that showed a tendency toward the competitive strategy. None of the classes showed a marked ruderal strategy, thus abiotic stress and biotic competition are the main ecological drivers affecting woody vegetation. Neophyte woody species exhibited relatively more competitive strategies compared to natives, and their invasion could be facilitated in resource-limited or mildly disturbed environments, should climate warming or increased nutrient availability occur. We demonstrated that plant traits and CSR strategies of woody diagnostic species reliably indicate the structure and functions of the phytosociological classes they represent, opening the way to the development of a “functional phytosociology”.Zanzottera MDalle Fratte MCaccianiga MPierce SCerabolini BELItalian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF)articleCSR Adaptive StrategiesForestsShrublandsGlobal SpectrumNeophytesPlant Functional TraitsForestrySD1-669.5ENiForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 522-530 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	CSR Adaptive Strategies Forests Shrublands Global Spectrum Neophytes Plant Functional Traits Forestry SD1-669.5
spellingShingle	CSR Adaptive Strategies Forests Shrublands Global Spectrum Neophytes Plant Functional Traits Forestry SD1-669.5 Zanzottera M Dalle Fratte M Caccianiga M Pierce S Cerabolini BEL Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy
description	Vegetation is often classified through phytosociology, which defines floristically and ecologically coherent units identified by diagnostic species. Since species- and community-environment relations are regulated by plant functional traits, it is likely that phytosociology has a strong functional underpinning, although the past and current phytosociology does not explicitly tackle this issue. Here we provide an analysis of functional traits of 221 woody species from Northern Italy, diagnostic of 21 European woody vegetation classes (including alien dominated ones). We assessed whether the functional space occupied by selected species corresponds to the physiognomy and ecology of the vegetation they represent, and whether this could help to evaluate major threats, such as invasion by alien species. For each species we collected from Authors’ datasets leaf trait data (leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, carbon to nitrogen ratio, leaf nitrogen content) and whole plant (plant height, seed mass) traits, and calculated Competitor, Stress-tolerant, Ruderal (CSR) scores. We identified the multidimensional functional trait space of diagnostic species and clustered classes according to their scores in the functional space, to check whether their physiognomy was coherently represented and mirrored in the CSR space. Lastly, we tested for differences between native and neophyte species and their overlap with classes. Diagnostic species mirrored the global spectrum of plant form and function, and classes showed a functional pattern coherent with their physiognomy and ecology. Evergreen dominated classes showed a similar convergence toward conservative characteristics and the stress-tolerant strategy, as opposed to deciduous forest classes that showed a tendency toward the competitive strategy. None of the classes showed a marked ruderal strategy, thus abiotic stress and biotic competition are the main ecological drivers affecting woody vegetation. Neophyte woody species exhibited relatively more competitive strategies compared to natives, and their invasion could be facilitated in resource-limited or mildly disturbed environments, should climate warming or increased nutrient availability occur. We demonstrated that plant traits and CSR strategies of woody diagnostic species reliably indicate the structure and functions of the phytosociological classes they represent, opening the way to the development of a “functional phytosociology”.
format	article
author	Zanzottera M Dalle Fratte M Caccianiga M Pierce S Cerabolini BEL
author_facet	Zanzottera M Dalle Fratte M Caccianiga M Pierce S Cerabolini BEL
author_sort	Zanzottera M
title	Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy
title_short	Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy
title_full	Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy
title_fullStr	Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy
title_full_unstemmed	Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy
title_sort	towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in northern italy
publisher	Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/3d79c3d366874b8a918e63a339ce4305
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Towards a functional phytosociology: the functional ecology of woody diagnostic species and their vegetation classes in Northern Italy

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