Disturbance alters local-regional richness relationships in Appalachian forests

Simple item page
dc.contributorVirginia Techen
dc.contributor.authorBelote, R. T.en
dc.contributor.authorSanders, N. J.en
dc.contributor.authorJones, R. H.en
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.date.accessed2014-01-08en
dc.date.accessioned2014-01-10T20:07:55Zen
dc.date.available2014-01-10T20:07:55Zen
dc.date.issued2009-10en
dc.description.abstractWhether biological diversity within communities is limited by local interactions or regional species pools remains an important question in ecology. In this paper, we investigate how an experimentally applied tree-harvesting disturbance gradient influenced local-regional richness relationships. Plant species richness was measured at three spatial scales (2 ha regional; 576 m(2) and 1 m(2) = local) on three occasions (one year pre-disturbance, one year post-disturbance, and 10 years post-disturbance) across five disturbance treatments (uncut control through clearcut) replicated throughout the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. We investigated whether species richness in 576-m(2) plots and 1-m(2) subplots depended on species richness in 2-ha experimental units and whether this relationship changed through time before and after canopy disturbance. We found that, before disturbance, the relationship between local and regional richness was weak or nonexistent. One year after disturbance local richness was a positive function of regional richness, because local sites were colonized from the regional species pool. Ten years after disturbance, the positive relationship persisted, but the slope had decreased by half. These results suggest that disturbance can set the stage for strong influences of regional species pools on local community assembly in temperate forests. However, as time since disturbance increases, local controls on community assembly decouple the relationships between regional and local diversity.en
dc.description.sponsorshipUSDA-NRI 2005-35101-15363en
dc.identifier.citationR. Travis Belote, Nathan J. Sanders, and Robert H. Jones 2009. Disturbance alters local–regional richness relationships in Appalachian forests. Ecology 90:2940–2947. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/08-1908.1en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1890/08-1908.1en
dc.identifier.issn0012-9658en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/24799en
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.esajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1890/08-1908.1en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherEcological Society of Americaen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectAppalachian Mountainsen
dc.subjectdisturbanceen
dc.subjectforest managementen
dc.subjectlocal-regionalen
dc.subjectrichness relationshipsen
dc.subjectspatial scaleen
dc.subjectspecies richnessen
dc.subjectsuccessionen
dc.subjectspecies richnessen
dc.subjectdiversityen
dc.subjectsaturationen
dc.subjectcommunitiesen
dc.subjectpatternsen
dc.subjectEnvironmental Sciences & Ecologyen
dc.titleDisturbance alters local-regional richness relationships in Appalachian forestsen
dc.title.serialEcologyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
08-1908%2E1.pdf
Size:
1 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Main article
Download
Collections
Scholarly Works, Biological Sciences