Land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in Irish vascular plants
The impact of productivity on species diversity is often studied at small spatial scales and without taking additional environmental factors into account. Focusing on small spatial scales removes important regional scale effects, such as the role of land cover heterogeneity. Here, we use a regional...
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doaj-3b8d6f7f3cdd419a9498bc2f66c3add32020-11-25T00:27:22ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592019-05-017e703510.7717/peerj.7035Land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in Irish vascular plantsHannah J. White0Willson Gaul1Dinara Sadykova2Lupe León-Sánchez3Paul Caplat4Mark C. Emmerson5Jon M. Yearsley6School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, IrelandSchool of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, IrelandSchool of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UKSchool of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UKSchool of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UKSchool of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UKSchool of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, IrelandThe impact of productivity on species diversity is often studied at small spatial scales and without taking additional environmental factors into account. Focusing on small spatial scales removes important regional scale effects, such as the role of land cover heterogeneity. Here, we use a regional spatial scale (10 km square) to establish the relationship between productivity and vascular plant species richness across the island of Ireland that takes into account variation in land cover. We used generalized additive mixed effects models to relate species richness, estimated from biological records, to plant productivity. Productivity was quantified by the satellite-derived enhanced vegetation index. The productivity-diversity relationship was fitted for three land cover types: pasture-dominated, heterogeneous, and non-pasture-dominated landscapes. We find that species richness decreases with increasing productivity, especially at higher productivity levels. This decreasing relationship appears to be driven by pasture-dominated areas. The relationship between species richness and heterogeneity in productivity (both spatial and temporal) varies with land cover. Our results suggest that the impact of pasture on species richness extends beyond field level. The effect of human modified landscapes, therefore, is important to consider when investigating classical ecological relationships, particularly at the wider landscape scale.https://peerj.com/articles/7035.pdfLandscapePasturePlantsProductivityRemote sensingSpecies richness |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Hannah J. White Willson Gaul Dinara Sadykova Lupe León-Sánchez Paul Caplat Mark C. Emmerson Jon M. Yearsley |
spellingShingle |
Hannah J. White Willson Gaul Dinara Sadykova Lupe León-Sánchez Paul Caplat Mark C. Emmerson Jon M. Yearsley Land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in Irish vascular plants PeerJ Landscape Pasture Plants Productivity Remote sensing Species richness |
author_facet |
Hannah J. White Willson Gaul Dinara Sadykova Lupe León-Sánchez Paul Caplat Mark C. Emmerson Jon M. Yearsley |
author_sort |
Hannah J. White |
title |
Land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in Irish vascular plants |
title_short |
Land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in Irish vascular plants |
title_full |
Land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in Irish vascular plants |
title_fullStr |
Land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in Irish vascular plants |
title_full_unstemmed |
Land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in Irish vascular plants |
title_sort |
land cover drives large scale productivity-diversity relationships in irish vascular plants |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
series |
PeerJ |
issn |
2167-8359 |
publishDate |
2019-05-01 |
description |
The impact of productivity on species diversity is often studied at small spatial scales and without taking additional environmental factors into account. Focusing on small spatial scales removes important regional scale effects, such as the role of land cover heterogeneity. Here, we use a regional spatial scale (10 km square) to establish the relationship between productivity and vascular plant species richness across the island of Ireland that takes into account variation in land cover. We used generalized additive mixed effects models to relate species richness, estimated from biological records, to plant productivity. Productivity was quantified by the satellite-derived enhanced vegetation index. The productivity-diversity relationship was fitted for three land cover types: pasture-dominated, heterogeneous, and non-pasture-dominated landscapes. We find that species richness decreases with increasing productivity, especially at higher productivity levels. This decreasing relationship appears to be driven by pasture-dominated areas. The relationship between species richness and heterogeneity in productivity (both spatial and temporal) varies with land cover. Our results suggest that the impact of pasture on species richness extends beyond field level. The effect of human modified landscapes, therefore, is important to consider when investigating classical ecological relationships, particularly at the wider landscape scale. |
topic |
Landscape Pasture Plants Productivity Remote sensing Species richness |
url |
https://peerj.com/articles/7035.pdf |
work_keys_str_mv |
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