Új cikk kunhalmokról a Landscape Ecology-ban

Megjelent Deák Balázs elsőszerzőségével készült cikkünk a Landscape Ecology hasábjain. A cikk elemzi a helyi és tájképi faktorok fajkészletre és specialista fajokra gyakorolt hatását, összesen 82 eltérő mértékben izolált gyepes kunhalom bevonásával. A cikk összefoglalója az alábbiakban olvasható. A cikk letölthető/elérhető a folyóirat honlapján és hamarosan letölthető lesz a honlapomról is.

Landscape and habitat filters jointly drive richness and abundance of specialist plants in terrestrial habitat islands.

Deák B., Valkó O., Török P., Kelemen A., Bede Á., Csathó A.I., Tóthmérész B.

Landscape and habitat filters are major drivers of biodiversity of small habitat islands by influencing dispersal and extinction events in plant metapopulations. We assessed the effects of landscape and habitat filters on the species richness, abundance and trait composition of grassland specialist and generalist plants in small habitat islands. We studied traits related to functional spatial connectivity (dispersal ability by wind and animals) and temporal connectivity (clonality and seed bank persistence) using model selection. We sampled herbaceous plants, landscape (local and regional isolation) and habitat filters (inclination, woody encroachment and disturbance) in 82 grassland islands in Hungary. Isolation decreased the abundance of good disperser specialist plants due to the lack of directional vectors transferring seeds between suitable habitat patches. 

Clonality was an effective strategy, but persistent seed bank did not support the survival of specialist plants in isolated habitats. Generalist plants were unaffected by landscape filters due to their wide habitat breadth and high propagule availability. Clonal specialist plants could cope with increasing woody encroachment due to their high resistance against environmental changes; however, they could not cope with intensive disturbance. Steep slopes providing environmental heterogeneity had an overall positive effect on species richness. Specialist plants were influenced by the interplay of landscape filters influencing their abundance and habitat filters affecting species richness. Landscape filtering by isolation influenced the abundance of specialist plants by regulating seed dispersal. Habitat filters sorted species that could establish and persist at a site by influencing microsite availability and quality.