ArticleEcology and evolution2022
Light heterogeneity affects understory plant species richness in temperate forests supporting the heterogeneity-diversity hypothesis.
Article in Ecology and evolution, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of light intensity on the Panax quinquefolius L. growth and soil microbial communities under reduced light spatial heterogeneity: an application to agroforestry systems.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Structural characteristics mediate forest mitigation potential against climate change and biodiversity loss.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026Article
- Disentangling the effects of multifunctional forestry practices on the abundances of birds and their invertebrate prey.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026Article
- Twig and Leaf Morphological Traits and Photosynthetic Physiological Characteristics ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Diversity distribution characteristics and influencing factors of understory herbaceous inFrontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Photosynthesis under far-red light-evolutionary adaptations and bioengineering of light-harvesting complexes.FEBS letters · 2026Review
- Adaptation Mechanisms of Understory Vegetation in Subtropical Plantations: Synergistic Drivers of Stand Spatial Structure and Soil Fertility.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Patch Area and Soil Resource Availability Outweigh Heterogeneity in Shaping Karst Plant Diversity During Early Restoration.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Effects of Canopy Litter Removal on Canopy Structure, Understory Light and Vegetation Dynamics inPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Mutualisms within light microhabitats are associated with sensory convergence in a mimetic butterfly community.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Successful recovery of native plants post-invasive removal in forest understories is driven by native community features.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2025Article
- Nitrogen enrichment and vascular plant richness loss reduce bryophyte richness.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Environmental Light Characteristics of Forest Under Different Logging Regimes.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Soil bacterial community in a photovoltaic system adopted different survival strategies to cope with small-scale light stress under different vegetation restoration modes.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Multidimensional beta-diversity across local and regional scales in a Chinese subtropical forest: The role of forest structure.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Combined effects of soil 3D spatial heterogeneity and biotic spatial heterogeneity (plant clumping) on ecosystem processes in grasslands.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Effects of understory characteristics on browsing patterns of roe deer in central European mountain forests.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Use climatic space-for-time substitutions with care: Not only climate, but also local environment affect performance of the key forest species bilberry along elevation gradient.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Regeneration in European beech forests after drought: the effects of microclimate, deadwood and browsing.European journal of forest research · 2023Article
- Light heterogeneity affects understory plant species richness in temperate forests supporting the heterogeneity-diversity hypothesis.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
One of the most important drivers for the coexistence of plant species is the resource heterogeneity of a certain environment, and several studies in different ecosystems have supported this resource heterogeneity-diversity hypothesis. However, to date, only a few studies have measured heterogeneity of light and soil resources below forest canopies to investigate their influence on understory plant species richness. Here, we aim to determine (1) the influence of forest stand structural complexity on the heterogeneity of light and soil resources below the forest canopy and (2) whether heterogeneity of resources increases understory plant species richness. Measures of stand structural complexity were obtained through inventories and remote sensing techniques in 135 1-ha study plots of temperate forests, established along a gradient of forest structural complexity. We measured light intensity and soil chemical properties on six 25 m² subplots on each of these 135 plots and surveyed understory vegetation. We calculated the coefficient of variation of light and soil parameters to obtain measures of resource heterogeneity and determined understory plant species richness at plot level. Spatial heterogeneity of light and of soil pH increased with higher stand structural complexity, although heterogeneity of soil pH did not increase in conditions of generally high levels of light availability. Increasing light heterogeneity was also associated with increasing understory plant species richness. However, light heterogeneity had no such effects in conditions where soil resource heterogeneity (variation in soil C:N ratios) was low. Our results support the resource heterogeneity-diversity hypothesis for temperate forest understory at the stand scale. Our results also highlight the importance of interaction effects between the heterogeneity of both light and soil resources in determining plant species richness.
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