Land-use impacts on plant functional diversity throughout Europe
Rosa, Francesca (Institute of Environmental Engineering)
van Bodegom, Peter (Leiden University. Institute of Environmental Sciences)
Hellweg, Stefanie (Institute of Environmental Engineering)
Pfister, Stephan (Institute of Environmental Engineering)
Biurrun, Idoia (Universidad del País Vasco. Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología)
Boch, Steffen (WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research)
Chytrý, Milan (Masaryk University. Department of Botany and Zoology)
Ćušterevska, Renata (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics)
Dalle Fratte, Michele (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Damasceno, Gabriella (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv))
Garbolino, Emmanuel (Institut Supérieur d'Ingénierie et de Gestion de l'Environnement)
Lenoir, Jonathan (Université de Picardie Jules Verne)
Ozinga, Wim (Wageningen University & Research)
Peñuelas, Josep (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Sabatini, Francesco Maria (University of Bologna. Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences)
Schrodt, Franziska (University of Nottingham. School of Geography)
Uogintas, Domas (Nature Research Centre (Lithuania))
Byun, Chaeho (University of the Andes. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Doležal, Jiří (University of South Bohemia. Department of Botany, Faculty of Science)
Dziuba, Tetiana (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Department of Geobotany and Ecology)
Hérault, Bruno (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement)
Martín-Forés, Irene (The University of Adelaide. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)
Niinemets, Ülo (Estonian University of Life Sciences)
Peyre, Gwendolyn (University of the Andes. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)
Scherer, Laura (Leiden University. Institute of Environmental Sciences)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	The global biodiversity loss resulting from anthropogenic land-use activities is a pressing concern, requiring precise assessments of impacts at large spatial extents. Existing models primarily focus on quantifying impacts on species richness and abundance, often overlooking the ecological relevance of species traits and their contributions to ecosystem functioning. To address this gap, we conducted a comprehensive analysis throughout Europe, investigating the effect of human land use on plant functional diversity across different land-use classes and bioregions. Integrating extensive databases of vegetation plots with spatial data on land use and land cover, we paired plots from areas actively used and modified by humans with plots from natural habitats under similar environmental conditions. Employing species occurrences and traits from the same databases, we computed three functional diversity metrics (functional richness, evenness, and divergence) per each plot. We assessed the impact of land use by comparing the functional diversity values in the paired. Our findings revealed that land used and modified by humans generally exhibits lower functional richness and divergence, but higher functional evenness compared to natural habitats, across most land-use classes and bioregions. Particularly noteworthy was the impact on functional richness in croplands and urban areas, identified as having the lowest functional richness values in multiple bioregions. Furthermore, the impact of human land use on plant communities displayed less variation among land-use classes than among bioregions. Our study emphasizes how land use impacts the functionality of species at a large scale, disclosing regional and land-use class differentiations. The results underscore the crucial need for informed conservation strategies and sustainable land management across various scales to address the escalating challenges posed by human activities to biodiversity and its associated functions.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Prepublicació ; recerca ; Versió de l'autor
Subject:	Anthropocene ; Biodiversity loss ; Bioregions ; Functional divergence ; Functional evenness ; Functional richness ; Vegetation

DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.21.580945

Preprint 33 p, 7.3 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Research literature > Preprints