Environmental factors and Carpathian spring fen vegetation: the importance of scale and temporal variation
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2004 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Annales Botanici Fennici |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Ecology |
| Keywords | conductivity; ecology; mire; pH; poor-rich gradient; seasonal patterns; spatial scale; water chemistry; water level |
| Description | The importance of scale and temporal variation in measured environmental factors is often underestimated in searching for vegetationenvironmental correlations in mires. Since different ecological processes can be dominant at different spatial scales, we compared species distribution patterns along environmental gradients in Carpathian spring fens at two scales: among and within vegetation types. At the large scale, four distinct vegetation types along the poorrich fen gradient were identified: poor Sphagnum fen, moderate-rich fen, extreme-rich tufa-forming fen and rich fen meadow. The results confirm that environmental factors related to water and soil mineral concentrations determine fen vegetation composition at a large spatial scale. The crucial role of base saturation for large-scale variation in mire vegetation is not always evident at a smaller spatial scale. At a within-vegetation-type scale, we found a clear pattern in water level variation which was significantly related to vegetation composition. Organic matter was detected to be the most important factor for explaining variation in rich-fen meadow vegetation. Further, periodical measurements of water level and physical-chemical properties of water (i.e. pH, conductivity, redox potential, and temperature) permitted the role of their temporal variation among vegetation types along the poorrich fen gradient to be assessed. Water pH was the most stable variable in all vegetation types, while conductivity was more stable in the rich than in the poor and moderate-rich fens. Water temperature showed the smallest fluctuation in the extreme-rich fen. In poor and moderate-rich fens, water temperature exhibited smaller temporal variation than did conductivity. Poor and moderate-rich fens generally exhibited a lower mean water level as compared with extreme-rich habitats. Independently of vegetation type, water level decline was associated with an increase in conductivity and temperature and a parallel decrease in redox-potential. Water pH remained unchanged during water level fluctuation |
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