Homogenization of forest plant communities and weakening of species-environment relationships via agricultural land use

• Published in: The Journal of ecology 2007-05, Vol.95 (3), p.565-573
• Main Authors: VELLEND, MARK, VERHEYEN, KRIS, FLINN, KATHRYN M, JACQUEMYN, HANS, KOLB, ANNETTE, VAN CALSTER, HANS, PETERKEN, GEORGE, GRAAE, BENTE JESSEN, BELLEMARE, JESSE, HONNAY, OLIVIER, BRUNET, JÖRG, WULF, MONIKA, GERHARDT, FRITZ, HERMY, MARTIN
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ancient forest; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; beta diversity; Biodiversity; Biological and medical sciences; biotic homogenization; Botany; community assembly; Datasets; Deciduous forests; Flowers & plants; Forest cover; Forest ecology; Forest habitats; forest plants; Forestry; Forests; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; General forest ecology; Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology; Land use; land-use history; Land-Use History and Agricultural Landscapes; Meta-analysis; Old growth forests; Plant ecology; Plants; recent forest; Species; Species diversity; species-environment relationships; Synecology
• ISSN: 0022-0477; 1365-2745
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2007.01233.x

1 Disturbance may cause community composition across sites to become more or less homogenous, depending on the importance of different processes involved in community assembly. In north-eastern North America and Europe local (alpha) diversity of forest plants is lower in forests growing on former agricultural fields (recent forests) than in older (ancient) forests, but little is known about the influence of land-use history on the degree of compositional differentiation among sites (beta diversity). 2 Here we analyse data from 1446 sites in ancient and recent forests across 11 different landscapes in north-eastern North America and Europe to demonstrate decreases in beta diversity and in the strength of species-environment relationships in recent vs. ancient forests. 3 The magnitude of environmental variability among sites did not differ between the two forest types. This suggests the difference in beta diversity between ancient and recent forests was not due to different degrees of environmental heterogeneity, but rather to dispersal filters that constrain the pool of species initially colonizing recent forests. 4 The observed effects of community homogenization and weakened relationships between species distributions and environmental gradients appear to persist for decades or longer. The legacy of human land-use history in spatial patterns of biodiversity may endure, both within individual sites and across sites, for decades if not centuries.