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Questioning the Reliability of the Point Intercept Method for Assessing Community Functional Structure in Low-Productive and Highly Diverse Mediterranean Grasslands

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Abstract

Quantifying species relative abundances in plant communities remains a key issue for the assessment of community functional structure. This is particularly challenging when non-destructive estimates are required over time. We tested whether the point intercept method (PIM), originally developed for low-diverse communities, is relevant for assessing the aboveground biomass and functional structure of highly diverse, low-productive Mediterranean grasslands. We sampled 18 communities with the PIM along a gradient of soil depth and texture, twice over the growing season. After each sampling period, we harvested the aboveground biomass in order to measure species biomass and to assess species richness and community functional structure with plant height, leaf area and leaf dry matter content (LDMC). We investigated the relationship between point intercept measurements and aboveground biomass at three hierarchical levels (species, growth-form and community) to find generalizable calibration equations for estimating community biomass and tested for sensitivity of estimates to community structure. We then compared the community weighted mean (CWM) and variance (CWV) of LDMC, calculated with and without calibration. Differences in species growth strategy and phenology strongly impacted biomass estimates at both the species and the community level. These differences were, however, successfully accounted for by growth-form specific calibrations, which provided accurate estimates without any influence of community structure. Lack of calibration may have dramatic consequences on functional structure assessment by inducing errors in estimates of CWV up to 80 %, depending on growth-form proportions. This work contributes to a better understanding of the possible methodological biases induced during sampling with the PIM, when quantifying species relative abundances for functional structure assessment in complex communities.

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Abbreviations

CWM:

Community weighted mean

CWV:

Community weighted variance

LDMC:

Leaf dry matter content

PIM:

Point intercept method

RGR:

Relative growth rate

RMAE:

Relative mean absolute error

SLA:

Specific leaf area

SMA:

Standardized major axis

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the ANR programme O2LA (09-STRA-09). We thank the experimental station “INRA-La Fage” for access to the facilities, and Jean Richarte and Caroline Demange for their valuable supports during field work and laboratory sorting. We also thank Philippe Choler and Florence Volaire for helpful discussions and comments on an early version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Karim Barkaoui & Maud Bernard-Verdier

  2. Montpellier SupAgro, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Marie-Laure Navas

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  1. Karim Barkaoui
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  2. Maud Bernard-Verdier
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  3. Marie-Laure Navas
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Correspondence to Karim Barkaoui.

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Barkaoui, K., Bernard-Verdier, M. & Navas, ML. Questioning the Reliability of the Point Intercept Method for Assessing Community Functional Structure in Low-Productive and Highly Diverse Mediterranean Grasslands. Folia Geobot 48, 393–414 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-013-9172-2

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Keywords

Plant nomenclature

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