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Human paths have positive impacts on plant richness and diversity: A meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT: We assess the impacts of human paths, trails, and roads on plant species richness and Shannon diversity. Most reviews of this topic have not considered community-level measures and have focused on excessive tourism impacts. We found significant positive effects of paths on plant richness and diversity. The effect size for richness was highest when studies included roads (paved) or trails (unpaved). The effect size found for diversity was highest when studies were in grasslands. We also found experimental designs comparing high levels of path use to low levels of path use, near-to-path versus far-from-path and path-presence versus path-absence comparisons obtained the largest effect sizes. There was no evidence that non-native species explained most increases in species richness or diversity. The effect sizes of human paths on plant communities are comparable in magnitude to those reported for other mammals' disturbance and ecosystem engineering activities.

SUBMITTER: Root-Bernstein M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6262937 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Human paths have positive impacts on plant richness and diversity: A meta-analysis.

Root-Bernstein Meredith M Svenning Jens-Christian JC

Ecology and evolution 20181016 22

We assess the impacts of human paths, trails, and roads on plant species richness and Shannon diversity. Most reviews of this topic have not considered community-level measures and have focused on excessive tourism impacts. We found significant positive effects of paths on plant richness and diversity. The effect size for richness was highest when studies included roads (paved) or trails (unpaved). The effect size found for diversity was highest when studies were in grasslands. We also found exp ...[more]

PMID: 30519429

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Project description:Plant functional traits reflect individual and community ecological strategies. They allow the detection of directional changes in community dynamics and ecosystemic processes, being an additional tool to assess biodiversity than species richness. Analysis of functional patterns in plant communities provides mechanistic insight into biodiversity alterations due to anthropogenic activity. Although studies have consi-dered of either anthropogenic management or nutrient availability on functional traits in temperate grasslands, studies combining effects of both drivers are scarce. Here, we assessed the impacts of management intensity (fertilization, mowing, grazing), nutrient stoichiometry (C, N, P, K), and vegetation composition on community-weighted means (CWMs) and functional diversity (Rao's Q) from seven plant traits in 150 grasslands in three regions in Germany, using data of 6 years. Land use and nutrient stoichiometry accounted for larger proportions of model variance of CWM and Rao's Q than species richness and productivity. Grazing affected all analyzed trait groups; fertilization and mowing only impacted generative traits. Grazing was clearly associated with nutrient retention strategies, that is, investing in durable structures and production of fewer, less variable seed. Phenological variability was increased. Fertilization and mowing decreased seed number/mass variability, indicating competition-related effects. Impacts of nutrient stoichiometry on trait syndromes varied. Nutrient limitation (large N:P, C:N ratios) promoted species with conservative strategies, that is, investment in durable plant structures rather than fast growth, fewer seed, and delayed flowering onset. In contrast to seed mass, leaf-economics variability was reduced under P shortage. Species diversity was positively associated with the variability of generative traits. Synthesis. Here, land use, nutrient availability, species richness, and plant functional strategies have been shown to interact complexly, driving community composition, and vegetation responses to management intensity. We suggest that deeper understanding of underlying mechanisms shaping community assembly and biodiversity will require analyzing all these parameters.

Dataset Information

Human paths have positive impacts on plant richness and diversity: A meta-analysis.

Publications

Human paths have positive impacts on plant richness and diversity: A meta-analysis.

Similar Datasets

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