1,720,982 research outputs found
Decadal legacies in community assembly in response to single seed and soil biota introductions
No full textBodemtransplantatie geeft natuurherstel boost: Wereldwijde vergelijking laat zelfde resultaat als in Nederland zien
No full textEffects of spatial plant-soil feedback heterogeneity on plant performance in monocultures
No full text1. Plant-soil feedback (PSF) effects have almost exclusively been quantified on homogeneous soils, but as different plant species will influence their local soil differently in reality PSF effects will be spatially heterogeneous. Whether plant performance in soils with spatially heterogeneous PSF can be predicted from pot experiments with homogeneous soils is unclear.2. In a greenhouse experiment we tested the response of monocultures of six grassland species (two grasses, two legumes, and two forbs) to three spatially explicit treatments (fine-grain heterogeneity, coarse-grain heterogeneity, and homogeneous). Sixteen patches of conditioned soil (~6x6 cm) were placed within each container. For homogeneous treatments all patches contained the same conditioned soil within a container. The fine-grained heterogeneous treatment contained four differently conditioned soils that were applied following a Latin square design, while for the coarse-grained heterogeneous treatment four contiguous square blocks of four cells each were created in each container.3. In general species grew worse on soil conditioned by conspecifics. However, when the biomass production on all homogeneous soil treatments (own and foreign soils) was averaged and compared to the heterogeneous treatments, we found that biomass production was lower than expected in the heterogeneous soils. This effect of heterogeneity depended on both the conditioning and test species, but most heterogeneity effects were negative. The grain of the heterogeneity (coarse vs. fine: at the chosen spatial scale) did not affect plant performance.4. We hypothesize that a more diverse soil community is present in spatially heterogeneous soils. This increases i) the chance of plants to encounter its antagonists, which may then rapidly increase in numbers; and ii) the scope for synergistic co-infections. Together this may lead to non-additive responses of plants to spatial heterogeneity in PSF.5. Synthesis. Plant performance was lower in spatially heterogeneous soils than predicted by spatially homogeneous soils. In natural grasslands that have mixed plant communities conditioning the soil plant-soil feedback (PSF) effects on plant performance may therefore be more negative than what is predicted from pot experiments. Our results emphasise the need to incorporate the spatial dynamics of PSF both in empirical and modelling studies if we are to understand the role of PSF in plant-plant interactions and plant community dynamics
Plant community evenness responds to spatial plant–soil feedback heterogeneity primarily through the diversity of soil conditioning
Full text linkFunctional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society. Plant–soil feedback (PSF) has been identified as a key driver of local plant diversity and evenness in competitive communities. However, while it has been shown that spatial PSF heterogeneity can alter plant performance and competitive interactions, there is no proof of principle that spatial PSF heterogeneity enhances community diversity. Using a grassland model system, we separated two aspects of spatial heterogeneity: the number of species conditioning the soil and spatial distribution of the PSFs. Our data show that PSFs promoted a higher plant evenness when the soil was conditioned by multiple species (mixed-conditioned) than when the soil was conditioned by a single species (mono-conditioned). On mono-conditioned soils, heterospecifics typically outperformed the focal species. In addition, there was a trend for increasing community evenness from uniform, via fine-grained to coarse-grained mixed-conditioned soils, but this was not significant. On mixed-conditioned soils, performance of all competing species was intermediate to the best and the worst mono-conditioned soils, leading to higher community evenness. Our data demonstrate that PSFs play a role in promoting plant evenness. Across mono-conditioned soils, PSF led to altered competitive hierarchies. However, on soils conditioned by multiple species, competitive ability among species was more similar and this led to higher plant evenness. The spatial distribution of the heterogeneity, on the other hand, did not significantly affect plant evenness. Our data therefore show that community evenness was more strongly related to the number of plant species that conditioned the soil than the spatial distribution of the PSF heterogeneity. Future studies need to investigate the importance of PSFs in the field across plant life stages and multiple generations. A plain language summary is available for this article
Data from: Effects of spatial plant-soil feedback heterogeneity on plant performance in monocultures
No full text1. Plant-soil feedback (PSF) effects have almost exclusively been quantified on homogeneous soils, but as different plant species will influence their local soil differently in reality PSF effects will be spatially heterogeneous. Whether plant performance in soils with spatially heterogeneous PSF can be predicted from pot experiments with homogeneous soils is unclear. 2. In a greenhouse experiment we tested the response of monocultures of six grassland species (two grasses, two legumes, and two forbs) to three spatially explicit treatments (fine-grain heterogeneity, coarse-grain heterogeneity, and homogeneous). Sixteen patches of conditioned soil (~6x6 cm) were placed within each container. For homogeneous treatments all patches contained the same conditioned soil within a container. The fine-grained heterogeneous treatment contained four differently conditioned soils that were applied following a Latin square design, while for the coarse-grained heterogeneous treatment four contiguous square blocks of four cells each were created in each container. 3. In general species grew worse on soil conditioned by conspecifics. However, when the biomass production on all homogeneous soil treatments (own and foreign soils) was averaged and compared to the heterogeneous treatments, we found that biomass production was lower than expected in the heterogeneous soils. This effect of heterogeneity depended on both the conditioning and test species, but most heterogeneity effects were negative. The grain of the heterogeneity (coarse vs. fine: at the chosen spatial scale) did not affect plant performance. 4. We hypothesize that a more diverse soil community is present in spatially heterogeneous soils. This increases i) the chance of plants to encounter its antagonists, which may then rapidly increase in numbers; and ii) the scope for synergistic co-infections. Together this may lead to non-additive responses of plants to spatial heterogeneity in PSF. 5. Synthesis. Plant performance was lower in spatially heterogeneous soils than predicted by spatially homogeneous soils. In natural grasslands that have mixed plant communities conditioning the soil plant-soil feedback (PSF) effects on plant performance may therefore be more negative than what is predicted from pot experiments. Our results emphasise the need to incorporate the spatial dynamics of PSF both in empirical and modelling studies if we are to understand the role of PSF in plant-plant interactions and plant community dynamics
Replication data for: Soil inoculation steers restoration of terrestrial ecosystems
No full textStudy design In the Reijerscamp Natuurmonumenten established a large field experiment in 2006. There were four experimental areas (Area A-D). In each area large top-soil excavations were made down to the minaral soil (top-soil removal (rem)
& untreated controls (cont)). In each of the excavated areas treatments were performed where 1) sods were added (sod), 2) where mixed soil was spead out (soil), and 3) a layer of hay was added (hay), and there was a control where nothing further had been done (cont) all three additions were collected from well-developped seminatural sites (sods: Doorwerthse Heide, Wolfheze, Soil: Dennenkamp, Planken Wambuis, Hay: Buurse Zand, Twente) Outside the excavations the soil, hay & control treatmen
ts were also performed just as inside the top-soil excavations. The sod addition treatment was not performed outside the top soil excavations (perhaps for financial reasons?) . Hence in total there were 4 experimental areas, with 7 treatments each, creating 28 sampling locations. Within each sampling location a transect of 5 plots was laid out, with the centre plot in the middle of the sampling location. The orientation of the transect was decided randomly as far a the size of the treatment in each sampling location permitted (see tab 'transect orientation' in the primary data files). Each plot was 1x1m and the spacing between plot edges was 5 m (hence each transect from the far edges of plot 1
& 5 spans 25 m). All data in the primary data files were sampled in this way
Temporal carry-over effects in sequential plant–soil feedbacks
Full text linkPlant–soil feedbacks (PSF) strongly influence plant performance. However, to what extent these PSF effects are persistent in the soil and how they are altered by species th at subsequently condition the soil is unclear. Here we test how conspecific and heterospecific soil-conditioning effects interact across different soil-conditioning phases. We conducted a fully factorial glasshouse experiment where six plant species conditioned soils in two consecutive phases and measured the performance of Jacobaea vulgaris. The species that conditioned the soil during the second conditioning phase strongly determined the performance of J. vulgaris, but also the order and combination of species that conditioned the soil in the two phases accounted for a large part of the variance. For shoot biomass this interaction was the dominant variance component. We show that soil conditioning legacies carry-over and interact with the conditioning effects of succeeding plants. In the field, species replacements at the patch level often appear to be unpredictable and we suggest that sequential feedbacks may explain these apparently unpredictable transitions
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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