Ground layer plant species turnover and beta diversity in southern-European old-growth forests.

ABSTRACT: Different assembly processes may simultaneously affect local-scale variation of species composition in temperate old-growth forests. Ground layer species diversity reflects chance colonization and persistence of low-dispersal species, as well as fine-scale environmental heterogeneity. The latter depends on both purely abiotic factors, such as soil properties and topography, and factors primarily determined by overstorey structure, such as light availability. Understanding the degree to which plant diversity in old-growth forests is associated with structural heterogeneity and/or to dispersal limitation will help assessing the effectiveness of silvicultural practices that recreate old-growth patterns and structures for the conservation or restoration of plant diversity. We used a nested sam

SUBMITTER: Sabatini FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3991708 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature