Size and Reproductive Traits Rather than Leaf Economic Traits Explain Plant-Community Composition in Species-Rich Annual Vegetation along a Gradient of Land Use Intensity.

ABSTRACT: Agricultural land use imposes a major disturbance on ecosystems worldwide, thus greatly modifying the taxonomic and functional composition of plant communities. However, mechanisms of community assembly, as assessed by plant functional traits, are not well known for dryland ecosystems under agricultural disturbance. Here we investigated trait responses to disturbance intensity and availability of resources to identify the main drivers of changes in composition of semiarid communities under diverging land use intensities. The eastern Mediterranean study region is characterized by an extended rainless season and by very diverse, mostly annual communities. At 24 truly replicated sites, we recorded the frequency of 241 species and the functional traits of the 53 most common species, together w

SUBMITTER: Dirks I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5447063 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature