Pacific Southwest

Title: Herb layer diversity and phytoindicative evaluation of habitat conditions of forest permanent plots in Poland

Author: Roo-Zielinska, Ewa; Solon, Jerzy

Date: 1998

Source: In: Bytnerowicz, Andrzej; Arbaugh, Michael J.; Schilling, Susan L., tech. coords. Proceedings of the international symposium on air pollution and climate change effects on forest ecosystems. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-166. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station: 161-168

Station ID: GTR-PSW-166

Description: The influence of climatic and pollution gradients was determined on species richness, species diversity, and values of phytoindicators of the herb layer in pine and mixed pine forest communities in Poland. Geographical longitude was used as a synthetic measure of geographical position. Ellenberg's indices were used as synthetic measures of habitat differentiation, calculated as weighed averages: L (light index), T (temperature index), K (continentality index), F (moisture index), R (reaction index), N (nitrogen index). Richness and diversity variables were used: razem (total number of species), gatB (number of shrub species), gatC (number of herb layer species), diver (ShannonÕs diversity index H = -Σplogp), simps (Simpson's index S = Σp²), beta (beta =[1- simps]/[1-1/gatC]). Additional dependent variables included the proportion of number and cover of different Raunkiaer's life forms as well as shares of number and cover of species of different leaf anatomy and different syntaxonomic character. By using Ellenberg's indices the vegetation on consecutive sample plots was not strongly differentiated. All sites on the climatic transect occurred on dry, strongly acidic or acidic soil, with low nitrogen content. Values for the index of continentality "K" reflected clearly the climatic differentiation from west to east. The number of herb layer species depended on the geographical longitude (correlation coefficient 0.851) for pine and mixed forests together, 0.840 for pine forests only, and 0.926 for mixed forests only. All diversity indices were also strongly correlated with the longitude. Generally, the share of the number of chamaephytes and therophytes was positively correlated with the longitude. In pine forests there was also a general tendency for the number of scleromorphic species to decrease (and mesomorphic species to increase) in the west-east direction. Meadow species also generally tended to increase in the west-east direction. For all the plots taken together the cover of meadow species is correlated with the longitude (correlation coefficient 0.881), 0.905 for pine forests only, and 0.910 for mixed forests.

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Citation

Roo-Zielinska, Ewa; Solon, Jerzy  1998.  Herb layer diversity and phytoindicative evaluation of habitat conditions of forest permanent plots in Poland.   In: Bytnerowicz, Andrzej; Arbaugh, Michael J.; Schilling, Susan L., tech. coords. Proceedings of the international symposium on air pollution and climate change effects on forest ecosystems. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-166. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station: 161-168.