A TRY adatbázis új bemutatkozó cikke

Megjelent több magyar kutató társszerzőségével a TRY adatbázis legújabb bemutatkozó cikke a Global Change Biology hasábjain. A cikk több mint 700 szerző részvételével bemutatja az adatbázis aktuális állapotát illetve az adatbázis használói számára referenciaközleményként szolgál az elkövetkező időszakra. Az adatbázisközlő cikk friss referenciaként cseréli Kattge et al. (2011)-ben megjelent cikkét, mely közel 1600 citációt "termelt" a megjelentető folyóiratnak, ami ehhez a cikkhez hasonlóan a Global Change Biology volt. A közlemény nyílt hozzáférésű és letölthető a folyóirat honlapjáról. Az összefoglaló az alábbiakban olvasható.

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Kattge J. et al.

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

Új közlemény az Applied Vegetation Science-ben

Megjelent Teleki Balázs elsőszerzőségével legújabb cikkünk az Applied Vegetation Science hasábjain. A cikkben azt vizsgáltuk, hogy az őshonos cserjefajokkal zajló cserjésedés milyen hatást gyakorol elsődleges és másodlagos löszgyep állományok fajkészletére és biodiverzitására. A közlemény remélhetően nyílt hozzáférésű lesz a folyóirat honlapján. A cikk összefoglalója az alábbiakban olvasható.

High resistance of plant biodiversity to moderate native woody encroachment in loess steppe grassland fragments

Teleki Balázs, Sonkoly Judit, Erdős László, Tóthmérész Béla, Prommer Mátyás, Török Péter

Woody encroachment affects many open habitats from semi‐deserts to wetlands and grasslands. We aimed to study the effect of native woody encroachment on grassland plant biodiversity in loess steppe fragments by analysing the vegetation composition of grasslands subjected to increasing levels of encroachment. We studied both ancient and restored grasslands with the following research hypotheses: (i) the increase of woody encroachment decreases total diversity, and the species richness of dry‐grassland species; (ii) the effect of woody cover on grassland biodiversity differs between ancient and restored grasslands. Altogether 63 loess grassland fragments were selected for the study, in South‐Eastern part of Transdanubia, Hungary, Central Europe. The percentage cover of trees, shrubs and herbaceous vegetation were recorded in 400‐m²‐sized plots (n = 110). The effects of woody encroachment and grassland age on diversity, total species richness of the herb layer, and richness of dry‐grassland species were analysed. We found that woody encroachment affected the total richness of the herb layer and the species richness of dry‐grassland species. For most of the listed variables lowest values were found at the highest woody encroachment groups. Grassland age affected the species richness of the herb layer and that of dry‐grassland species, lower values were detected in restored grasslands. In restored grasslands, Shannon diversity and species evenness were lower, while Berger‐Parker dominance was higher than in ancient grasslands. Species composition and richness displayed a relatively high resistance to moderate woody encroachment; the highest decrease in diversity was detected at a high level of woody encroachment (> 52% of woody cover).

We can conclude that low to moderate woody encroachment cannot be simplistically regarded as degradation. Results suggest that moderately encroached loess grasslands can be easily restored by the suppression of woody species, as their species pool still contains many dry‐grassland species targeted for restoration.