CHYTRÝ, Milan, Lubomír TICHÝ, Stephan M HENNEKENS and Joop H J SCHAMINÉE. Assessing vegetation change using vegetation-plot databases: a risky business. Applied Vegetation Science. Wiley, 2014, vol. 17, No 1, p. 32-41. ISSN 1402-2001. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12050.
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Basic information
Original name Assessing vegetation change using vegetation-plot databases: a risky business
Authors CHYTRÝ, Milan (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Lubomír TICHÝ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Stephan M HENNEKENS (528 Netherlands) and Joop H J SCHAMINÉE (528 Netherlands).
Edition Applied Vegetation Science, Wiley, 2014, 1402-2001.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Article in a journal
Field of Study 10600 1.6 Biological sciences
Country of publisher United States of America
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW URL
Impact factor Impact factor: 2.548
RIV identification code RIV/00216224:14310/14:00073527
Organization unit Faculty of Science
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12050
UT WoS 000328544400005
Keywords in English Permanent plot; Phytosociological database; Plant community; Releve; Revisitation study; Sampling bias; Species composition; Temporal trend
Tags AKR, rivok
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: Mgr. Lucie Jarošová, DiS., učo 205746. Changed: 13/3/2018 10:47.
Abstract
Aim: Data from vegetation plots can be used for the assessment of past vegetation change in three ways: (1) comparison of old and new records from permanent plots established for vegetation monitoring; (2) revisiting historical phytosociological plots and subsequent comparison of old and new records; (3) comparison of large sets of old and new phytosociological records from the same area but different plots. Option (3) would be the cheapest in regions where large vegetation-plot databases are available, but there is a risk of incorrect results due to a spatial mismatch of old and new plots. Here we assess the accuracy of such analyses. Methods: We used three data sets of permanent plots from Czech mountain bogs and Dutch oak forests and heathlands to quantify vegetation change. We selected subsets to simulate analyses based on (1) data from permanent plots or revisited phytosociological plots, i.e. containing old and new records from the same plots, (2) vegetation-plot databases with old and new records from different, randomly selected sites, and (3) vegetation-plot databases with old and new records from different but close sites. We repeated each subset selection 1000 times and analysed vegetation change in each of the three data sets and each variant of subset selection using permutational multivariate analysis of variance. Results: For data sets with no actual vegetation change, analyses of some subsets simulating vegetation-plot databases incorrectly suggested significant changes. For a data set with real change, a change was detected in analyses of simulated vegetation-plot databases, but in several cases it had a different direction or magnitude to the real change. Conclusions: The assessment of vegetation change using vegetation-plot databases should be either avoided or interpreted with extreme caution because of the risk of incorrect results. Analyses such as these may be used to propose hypotheses about past vegetation change, but their results should not be considered valid unless confirmed using more reliable data. In many contexts, re-visitation studies of historical phytosociological plots may be the best strategy to assess past vegetation change, while new networks of carefully stratified permanent plots are preferable for monitoring future change.
Links
GAP505/11/0732, research and development projectName: Zobecněná řízená klasifikace v ekologii společenstev
Investor: Czech Science Foundation
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