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The role of landscape structure in determining palynological and floristic richness

Meltsov, Vivika ; Poska, Anneli LU ; Reitalu, Triin ; Sammul, Marek and Kull, Tiiu (2013) In Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 22(1). p.39-49
Abstract
The associations between floristic and palynological richness and landscape structure were studied based on modern pollen-vegetation data from a patchy cultural landscape in southern Estonia (northern temperate vegetation zone). Nine study sites (small lakes and their surrounding vegetation) represent land cover gradient from closed forest to semi-open vegetation. Floristic richness (number of species) and floristic richness of pollen types (number of pollen-equivalent taxa) were used to describe the vegetation within the radius of 250 m from the pollen sampling sites. Palynological richness was calculated to describe the modern pollen samples diversity. Landscape structure was estimated on the basis of landscape openness and three... (More)
The associations between floristic and palynological richness and landscape structure were studied based on modern pollen-vegetation data from a patchy cultural landscape in southern Estonia (northern temperate vegetation zone). Nine study sites (small lakes and their surrounding vegetation) represent land cover gradient from closed forest to semi-open vegetation. Floristic richness (number of species) and floristic richness of pollen types (number of pollen-equivalent taxa) were used to describe the vegetation within the radius of 250 m from the pollen sampling sites. Palynological richness was calculated to describe the modern pollen samples diversity. Landscape structure was estimated on the basis of landscape openness and three landscape diversity measures: richness of community patches, Simpson evenness of community patches and Simpson diversity of community patches. To study the effect of the spatial scale of landscapes on the vegetation-landscape and pollen-landscape associations, landscape structure was estimated within eight radii (250-2,000 m) around each lake. The results showed that landscape openness was the most important determinant of both floristic richness and palynological richness in southern Estonia and that landscape diversity estimated by Simpson diversity index was also significantly associated with the richness estimates. Floristic and palynological richness were significantly positively correlated with landscape structure within the radii greater than 1,000 m from the pollen sampling sites, which is similar to the estimated Relevant Source Area of Pollen in southern Estonia. We conclude that within one floristic or climatic region, palynological richness gives reliable estimates about the variation in floristic richness and landscape structure; however, caution must be taken when comparing pollen-inferred vegetation diversities from different regions or when interpreting fossil pollen records from times with highly different vegetation associations. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Palynological richness, Floristic richness, Landscape diversity, Landscape openness, Landscape patchiness, Estonia
in
Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
volume
22
issue
1
pages
39 - 49
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000312059400003
  • scopus:84870717537
ISSN
0939-6314
DOI
10.1007/s00334-012-0358-y
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a1e96cd1-9680-4d8c-a976-9bad6c441488 (old id 3400989)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:16:50
date last changed
2022-03-21 23:12:10
@article{a1e96cd1-9680-4d8c-a976-9bad6c441488,
  abstract     = {{The associations between floristic and palynological richness and landscape structure were studied based on modern pollen-vegetation data from a patchy cultural landscape in southern Estonia (northern temperate vegetation zone). Nine study sites (small lakes and their surrounding vegetation) represent land cover gradient from closed forest to semi-open vegetation. Floristic richness (number of species) and floristic richness of pollen types (number of pollen-equivalent taxa) were used to describe the vegetation within the radius of 250 m from the pollen sampling sites. Palynological richness was calculated to describe the modern pollen samples diversity. Landscape structure was estimated on the basis of landscape openness and three landscape diversity measures: richness of community patches, Simpson evenness of community patches and Simpson diversity of community patches. To study the effect of the spatial scale of landscapes on the vegetation-landscape and pollen-landscape associations, landscape structure was estimated within eight radii (250-2,000 m) around each lake. The results showed that landscape openness was the most important determinant of both floristic richness and palynological richness in southern Estonia and that landscape diversity estimated by Simpson diversity index was also significantly associated with the richness estimates. Floristic and palynological richness were significantly positively correlated with landscape structure within the radii greater than 1,000 m from the pollen sampling sites, which is similar to the estimated Relevant Source Area of Pollen in southern Estonia. We conclude that within one floristic or climatic region, palynological richness gives reliable estimates about the variation in floristic richness and landscape structure; however, caution must be taken when comparing pollen-inferred vegetation diversities from different regions or when interpreting fossil pollen records from times with highly different vegetation associations.}},
  author       = {{Meltsov, Vivika and Poska, Anneli and Reitalu, Triin and Sammul, Marek and Kull, Tiiu}},
  issn         = {{0939-6314}},
  keywords     = {{Palynological richness; Floristic richness; Landscape diversity; Landscape openness; Landscape patchiness; Estonia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{39--49}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Vegetation History and Archaeobotany}},
  title        = {{The role of landscape structure in determining palynological and floristic richness}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00334-012-0358-y}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s00334-012-0358-y}},
  volume       = {{22}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}