Grazed Pannonian grassland beta-diversity changes due to C4 yellow bluestem

Central European Journal of Biology volume 7, pages1055–1065(2012)Cite this article

Abstract

This study investigates how yellow bluestem affects biodiversity in a typical Pannonian grassland. Beta diversity (i.e. the finescale spatial variability of species compositions), was estimated by the realized number of species combinations sampled at various scales. Sampling was performed by a standard protocol. Presences of plant species were recorded along 52.2 m long belt transect of 1044 units of 0.05x0.05 m contiguous microquadrats. According to the results the massive presence of tested C4 grass significantly reduced species richness of the grassland. Beta diversity assessment revealed that 90% of species combinations were lost due to yellow bluestem invasion. Fine-scale spatial pattern analyses showed complete local extinctions of other species from microsites dominated by yellow bluestem. This local extinction is enhanced by the specific clonal architecture of this species and by the accumulation of litter. Other dominant grasses had no effect on fine scale diversity, i.e. they could coexist well with other elements of the local flora. This study presents currently developed microhabitat types, forecasts and also draws attention to the danger that climate warming will probably enhance the spread of this detrimental C4 species.

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Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agriculturale and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Plant Production, Szent István University, HU-2100, Gödöllő, Hungary

    Szilárd Szentes

  2. Faculty of Agriculturale and Environmental Sciences, Department of Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, Szent István University, HU-2100, Gödöllő, Hungary

    Zsuzsanna Sutyinszki, Gábor Szabó, Zita Zimmermann, Judit Házi, Barnabás Wichmann & Károly Penksza

  3. Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, HU-2163, Vácrátót, Hungary

    Gábor Szabó, Zita Zimmermann & Sándor Bartha

  4. Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Corvinus University of Budapest, HU-1118, Budapest, Hungary

    Levente Hufnágel

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  1. Szilárd Szentes
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  2. Zsuzsanna Sutyinszki
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  9. Sándor Bartha
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Correspondence to Károly Penksza.

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Szentes, S., Sutyinszki, Z., Szabó, G. et al. Grazed Pannonian grassland beta-diversity changes due to C4 yellow bluestem. cent.eur.j.biol. 7, 1055–1065 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11535-012-0101-9

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Keywords

  • Dominant grass
  • Plant neighbourhood diversity
  • Litter
  • Spatial association
  • Climate change