Impacts of Land-Use Changes on Vegetation and Ecosystem Functioning: Old-Field Secondary Succession
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2021
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MDPI
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El estudio de la sucesión ecológica para determinar cómo se re-ensamblan las comunidades vegetales después de una perturbación natural o antropogénica siempre ha sido uno de los temas centrales en ecología. La comprensión de estos procesos forma parte de las nuevas teorías de ensamblaje comunitario y coexistencia de especies, y está llamando la atención en un contexto de impactos humanos en expansión. Específicamente, nuevos estudios sucesionales brindan respuestas a diferentes mecanismos de ensamblaje comunitario y apuntan a definir la importancia de los procesos deterministas o estocásticos en la dinámica sucesional. Los límites bióticos, que dependen directamente de la biodiversidad (es decir, la competencia de especies), y el filtrado abiótico, que depende del medio ambiente, se vuelven particularmente importantes cuando se exceden, complicando el proceso de sucesión para alcanzar la etapa de perturbación anterior. Los rasgos funcionales de las plantas (PFT) se utilizan en estudios de sucesión secundaria para establecer diferencias entre etapas de abandono o para comparar tipos de vegetación o flora, y están más estrechamente relacionados con el funcionamiento de las comunidades vegetales. La limitación de la dispersión es un rasgo considerado un proceso importante desde un punto de vista estocástico porque está relacionado con el establecimiento de las plantas. En relación con ello, el banco de semillas del suelo juega un papel importante en la sucesión secundaria porque es esencial para el funcionamiento del ecosistema. La composición química de los suelos y la comunidad microbiana son variables importantes a tener en cuenta al estudiar cualquier etapa de sucesión. La cronosecuencia es la mejor manera de estudiar todo el proceso en diferentes escalas de tiempo. En este trabajo se muestra cómo los estudios realizados en el pasado, así como los recientes se están incorporando a las bases de la sucesión clásica. Para explorar más a fondo este tema, se han elegido la recuperación de campos abandonados como ejemplo de cómo varias comunidades de plantas diferentes, incluidos pastizales y matorrales anuales y perennes, desempeñan un papel importante en la sucesión secundaria.
The study of ecological succession to determine how plant communities re-assemble after a natural or anthropogenic disturbance has always been an important topic in ecology. The understanding of these processes forms part of the new theories of community assembly and species coexistence, and is attracting attention in a context of expanding human impacts. Specifically, new successional studies provide answers to different mechanisms of community assemblage, and aim to define the importance of deterministic or stochastic processes in the succession dynamic. Biotic limits, which depend directly on biodiversity (i.e., species competition), and abiotic filtering, which depends on the environment, become particularly important when they are exceeded, making the succession process more complicated to reach the previous disturbance stage. Plant functional traits (PFTs) are used in secondary succession studies to establish differences between abandonment stages or to compare types of vegetation or flora, and are more closely related to the functioning of plant communities. Dispersal limitation is a PFT considered an important process from a stochastic point of view because it is related to the establishing of plants. Related to it the soil seed bank plays an important role in secondary succession because it is essential for ecosystem functioning. Soil compounds and microbial community are important variables to take into account when studying any succession stage. Chronosequence is the best way to study the whole process at different time scales. Finally, our objective in this review is to show how past studies and new insights are being incorporated into the basis of classic succession. To further explore this subject we have chosen old-field recovery as an example of how a number of different plant communities, including annual and perennial grasslands and shrublands, play an important role in secondary succession.
The study of ecological succession to determine how plant communities re-assemble after a natural or anthropogenic disturbance has always been an important topic in ecology. The understanding of these processes forms part of the new theories of community assembly and species coexistence, and is attracting attention in a context of expanding human impacts. Specifically, new successional studies provide answers to different mechanisms of community assemblage, and aim to define the importance of deterministic or stochastic processes in the succession dynamic. Biotic limits, which depend directly on biodiversity (i.e., species competition), and abiotic filtering, which depends on the environment, become particularly important when they are exceeded, making the succession process more complicated to reach the previous disturbance stage. Plant functional traits (PFTs) are used in secondary succession studies to establish differences between abandonment stages or to compare types of vegetation or flora, and are more closely related to the functioning of plant communities. Dispersal limitation is a PFT considered an important process from a stochastic point of view because it is related to the establishing of plants. Related to it the soil seed bank plays an important role in secondary succession because it is essential for ecosystem functioning. Soil compounds and microbial community are important variables to take into account when studying any succession stage. Chronosequence is the best way to study the whole process at different time scales. Finally, our objective in this review is to show how past studies and new insights are being incorporated into the basis of classic succession. To further explore this subject we have chosen old-field recovery as an example of how a number of different plant communities, including annual and perennial grasslands and shrublands, play an important role in secondary succession.