Experimentally linking disturbance, resources and productivity to diversity in forest ground-layer plant communities

Mechanisms linking diversity, productivity and invasibility in experimental bacterial communities.

Decreasing species diversity is thought to both reduce community productivity and increase invasibility to other species. However, it remains unclear whether identical mechanisms drive both diversity-productivity and diversity-invasibility relationships. We found a positive diversity-productivity relationship and negative diversity-invasibility and productivity-invasibility relationships using ...

The effects of disturbance history on the taxonomic and functional composition of ground-layer plant communities

Diversity of vascular plant communities along a disturbance gradient in a central mid-hill community forest of Nepal

The ‘Community Forestry Program’ has been considered successful in improving the environmental situation in the hills of Nepal by enhancing the vegetation coverage of degraded sites and by improving the supply of forest products to farmers. The restoration measures are considered sustainable if the ecosystems are self-supporting and resilient against perturbation. A community forest (CF) in the...

Diversity and Distribution of Plant Communities Related to Forest Fragment Size, Shape, Age, and Structure

Fuelling, Rachel R. M.S., Purdue University, May 2014. Diversity and Distribution of Plant Communities Related to Forest Fragment Size, Shape, Age, and Structure. Major Professor: Jordan M. Marshall. In the Midwest region of the United States, forested areas have been removed to make way for agriculture and development. In the southern Midwestern states, including Indiana, cultivated and pastur...

Productivity-Diversity Relationships in Lake Plankton Communities

One of the most intriguing environmental gradients connected with variation in diversity is ecosystem productivity. The role of diversity in ecosystems is pivotal, because species richness can be both a cause and a consequence of primary production. However, the mechanisms behind the varying productivity-diversity relationships (PDR) remain poorly understood. Moreover, large-scale studies on PD...