Half a Century of Temperate Non‐Forest Vegetation Changes: No Net Loss in Species Richness, but Considerable Shifts in Taxonomic and Functional Composition

作者：Klára Klinkovská, Marta Gaia Sperandii, Ilona Knollová, Jiří Danihelka, Michal Hájek, Petra Hájková, Zdenka Hroudová, Martin Jiroušek, Jan Lepš, Jana Navrátilová, Tomáš Peterka, Petr Petřík, Karel Prach, Klára Řehounková, Jaroslav Rohel, Vojtěch Sobotka, Michal Vávra, Helge Bruelheide, Milan Chytrý · 发表于：Global Change Biology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1111/gcb.70030 · 被引用次数：23 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies、Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology

In recent decades, global change and local anthropogenic pressures have severely affected natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. Although disentangling the effects of these factors is difficult, they are reflected in changes in the functional composition of plant communities. We present a comprehensive, large-scale analysis of long-term changes in plant communities of various non-forest habitat types in the Czech Republic based on 1154 vegetation-plot time series from 53 resurvey studies comprising 3909 vegetation-plot records. We focused not only on taxonomic diversity but also on the functional characteristics of communities. Species richness of most habitat types increased over time, and taxonomic and functional community composition shifted significantly. Habitat specialists and threatened species became less represented in plant communities, indicating a decline in habitat quality. The spread of trees, shrubs, tall herbaceous plants, strong competitors, and nutrient-demanding species in all non-forest habitats, coupled with the decline of light-demanding species, suggests an effect of eutrophication and natural succession following the abandonment of traditional management. Moreover, we identified specific trends in certain habitats. In wetlands, springs, and mires, moisture-demanding species decreased, probably due to drainage, river regulations, and increasing drought resulting from climate change. Dry grasslands, ruderal, weed, sand, and shallow-soil vegetation be...