Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities
The specific leaf area (SLA) has been related to environmental disturbances, showing a positive correlation between the disturbances intensities and SLA in a plant community. These studies, however, assessed the responses of plant community as a whole, neglecting species attributes, such as the posi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Instituto Internacional de Ecologia
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| Series: | Brazilian Journal of Biology |
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| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842015000200013&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1819296950828138496 |
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| author | J. Prado Júnior I. Schiavini V. Vale S. Lopes C. Arantes AP. Oliveira |
| author_facet | J. Prado Júnior I. Schiavini V. Vale S. Lopes C. Arantes AP. Oliveira |
| author_sort | J. Prado Júnior |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The specific leaf area (SLA) has been related to environmental disturbances, showing a positive correlation between the disturbances intensities and SLA in a plant community. These studies, however, assessed the responses of plant community as a whole, neglecting species attributes, such as the position in the vertical stratum of forests. Considering the importance of SLA to understand forest ecological processes, this study aimed to determine the influence of the disturbance regime on the SLA of understory species, considering that, unlike for communities as a whole, an increase in the disturbance intensity implies a decrease in SLA of understory species. This study was conducted in nine understories of seasonal forests in Brazil. The most abundant species were selected and their SLA were evaluated. The variability of SLA among populations in different forests was analyzed by Student’s t-tests. The SLA of the understories (SLAU) was also compared by an adaptation of the Community-weighted mean index. The comparison of species SLA showed significant differences among the populations of understories under different disturbance regime, showing a decrease in SLA with an increase in the disturbance intensity. Similar results were found for the SLA of understories communities (SLAU), corroborating our hypothesis. The correlation between a reduction in species SLA and in SLA of understory with an increase in disturbance intensity, contradicted the trend observed in the literature for the community as a whole. This study highlights the importance of the evaluation of SLA in understories, as an indicator of the successional stage of communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T05:06:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-545ecd8078f544ebb6e47c76ba3f6cb1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1678-4375 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T05:06:15Z |
| publisher | Instituto Internacional de Ecologia |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brazilian Journal of Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-545ecd8078f544ebb6e47c76ba3f6cb12022-12-21T17:13:48ZengInstituto Internacional de EcologiaBrazilian Journal of Biology1678-437575233934610.1590/1519-6984.12413S1519-69842015000200013Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severitiesJ. Prado JúniorI. SchiaviniV. ValeS. LopesC. ArantesAP. OliveiraThe specific leaf area (SLA) has been related to environmental disturbances, showing a positive correlation between the disturbances intensities and SLA in a plant community. These studies, however, assessed the responses of plant community as a whole, neglecting species attributes, such as the position in the vertical stratum of forests. Considering the importance of SLA to understand forest ecological processes, this study aimed to determine the influence of the disturbance regime on the SLA of understory species, considering that, unlike for communities as a whole, an increase in the disturbance intensity implies a decrease in SLA of understory species. This study was conducted in nine understories of seasonal forests in Brazil. The most abundant species were selected and their SLA were evaluated. The variability of SLA among populations in different forests was analyzed by Student’s t-tests. The SLA of the understories (SLAU) was also compared by an adaptation of the Community-weighted mean index. The comparison of species SLA showed significant differences among the populations of understories under different disturbance regime, showing a decrease in SLA with an increase in the disturbance intensity. Similar results were found for the SLA of understories communities (SLAU), corroborating our hypothesis. The correlation between a reduction in species SLA and in SLA of understory with an increase in disturbance intensity, contradicted the trend observed in the literature for the community as a whole. This study highlights the importance of the evaluation of SLA in understories, as an indicator of the successional stage of communities.http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842015000200013&lng=en&tlng=encommunity-weighted mean indexconservationintraspecific variabilitysemideciduous seasonal forestsspecific leaf area |
| spellingShingle | J. Prado Júnior I. Schiavini V. Vale S. Lopes C. Arantes AP. Oliveira Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities Brazilian Journal of Biology community-weighted mean index conservation intraspecific variability semideciduous seasonal forests specific leaf area |
| title | Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities |
| title_full | Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities |
| title_fullStr | Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities |
| title_short | Functional leaf traits of understory species: strategies to different disturbance severities |
| title_sort | functional leaf traits of understory species strategies to different disturbance severities |
| topic | community-weighted mean index conservation intraspecific variability semideciduous seasonal forests specific leaf area |
| url | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842015000200013&lng=en&tlng=en |
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