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Using plant traits to predict the sensitivity of colonizations and extirpations to landscape context

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Abstract

Theory suggests that species with different traits will respond differently to landscape fragmentation. Studies have shown that the presence of species in fragments of varying size, shape and connectivity is dependent on plant traits related to dispersal ability, persistence and disturbance tolerance. However, the role of traits in determining long-term plant community changes in response to changing landscape context is not well understood. We used data from resurveys of 184 plots to test the ability of nine plant traits to predict colonizations and extirpations between 1968 and 2009 based on the surrounding landscape context. We related apparent colonizations and extirpations to road density, naturally vegetated area and patch shape and then tested for significant relationships between a tendency for positive or negative associations and plant traits. Exotic, herbaceous, annual, shade-intolerant species and species with higher specific leaf area were more likely than others to colonize plots with higher road density, lower amount of naturally vegetated area and higher edge-to-area ratio. However, extirpations were rarely predictable based on traits. The role of landscape context in structuring plant community change over the past four decades in the 184 plots resurveyed was largely mediated by colonization events, suggesting that trait-based extirpations occur with a longer post-fragmentation time lag or, alternatively, that extirpation is more stochastic with respect to plant traits than is colonization.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Hans Roemer for advising us on plot relocation, sharing his datasheets and notes from the original survey, and assisting with plant identifications. For permission to access plots we thank: BC Parks, District of Central Saanich, Capital Regional District, District of North Saanich, District of Saanich, City of Victoria, Royal Roads University, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, Royal Oak Burial Park, Victoria International Airport, University of Victoria, the Pauquachin Nation and several private landowners. Anthony Ho and Alice Cang assisted with data collection and Dr. Will Cornwell kindly shared his SLA database for plants of the region. This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Postgraduate Scholarship to JLM; Discovery Grant to MV). The data in this study were collected according to the laws of the country (Canada) in which the research took place.

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  1. Jenny L. McCune

    Present address: Department of Integrative Biology, Science Complex, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 3529-6270 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Jenny L. McCune

  2. Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, J1K 2R1, Canada

    Mark Vellend

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  1. Jenny L. McCune
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Correspondence to Jenny L. McCune.

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Communicated by Bryan Foster.

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McCune, J.L., Vellend, M. Using plant traits to predict the sensitivity of colonizations and extirpations to landscape context. Oecologia 178, 511–524 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-3217-y

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