Factors Influencing Bryophyte Assemblage at Different Scales in the Western Canadian Boreal Forest
By Suzanne Mills, S. Macdonald. 2005
84 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Abstract This study examined bryophyte community composition in relation to microsite and microenvironmental variation at different scales in three conifer-dominated stands in the boreal forest of Alberta, Canada. We documented bryophyte assemblage on specific microsite types (physiognomic forms providing substrates for moss colonization: logs, stumps, tree bases, undisturbed patches of forest floor, disturbed patches of forest floor), and at coarser scales: mesosites (625 m2 plots within stands), and stands (10 ha). Patterns of variation in bryophyte composition arising from the microsite sampling were clearly related to microsite type and, for woody substrates, to microsite quality (decay class; hardwood vs. softwood). Microenvironment (moisture, pH, temperature, light) also had some influence on bryophyte composition of woody microsite types. Forest floor moisture, pH, and light were related to bryophyte composition of undisturbed patches of forest floor while forest floor moisture and temperature were significant correlates for disturbed forest floor. At the coarser-scale, surface moisture and forest floor moisture were related to bryophyte assemblage of mesosites; this was partially reflective of differences among stands. We conclude that bryophyte species composition in these forests is related to a hierarchy of factors including fine scale variation in the type and quality of available microsites along with microenvironmental variation at different scales. Management efforts to preserve bryophyte biodiversity will need to incorporate this complexity.
Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Plant Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0e7d270807e738841829afaa8f28f03250d75412
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
In Plant Science
Citations in the corpus
- Understory Vegetation Dynamics of North American Boreal Forests (2006, background): “This adsorptive capability of charcoal can remain for up to 100 years (Mills and Macdonald, 2004; Mills and Macdonald, 2005).”
- The effects of stand structure on ground-floor bryophyte assemblages in temperate mixed forests (2009, background): “The most important factors affecting the diversity and composition of forest-floor bryophyte assemblages are the amount and heterogeneity of potential substrates and microsites (Mills and Macdonald 2004, 2005).”