Contrasting Holocene environmental histories may explain patterns of species richness and rarity in a Central European landscape

HÁJEK, Michal, Lydie DUDOVÁ, Petra HÁJKOVÁ, Jan ROLEČEK, Jitka MOUTELÍKOVÁ, Eva JAMRICHOVÁ and Michal HORSÁK. Contrasting Holocene environmental histories may explain patterns of species richness and rarity in a Central European landscape. Quaternary Science Reviews. Elsevier, vol. 133, February, p. 48-61. ISSN 0277-3791. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.012. 2016.

Basic information

• Original name: Contrasting Holocene environmental histories may explain patterns of species richness and rarity in a Central European landscape
• Authors: HÁJEK, Michal (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Lydie DUDOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Petra HÁJKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Jan ROLEČEK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Jitka MOUTELÍKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Eva JAMRICHOVÁ (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution) and Michal HORSÁK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Quaternary Science Reviews, Elsevier, 2016, 0277-3791.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 10600 1.6 Biological sciences
• Country of publisher: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 4.797
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14310/16:00087760
• Organization unit: Faculty of Science
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.12.012
• UT WoS: 000370458400004
• Keywords in English: Holocene; Species pool; Extreme species richness; Biogeography; Carpathians; Palaeoecology
• Tags: AKR, rivok

Abstract

The south-western part of the White Carpathians (Czech Republic, Slovakia) is known for its exceptional grassland diversity and occurrence of many species with disjunct distribution patterns, including isolated populations of continental forest-steppe species. The north-eastern part of the mountain range lacks many of these species and has clearly lower maxima of grassland species richness. While climatic and edaphic conditions of both regions largely overlap, specific environmental history has been hypothesized to explain the exceptional richness in the south-western part. We explored an entire-Holocene record (9650 BC onwards), the first one from the northeastern part, to find out whether differences in history may explain regional patterns of species rarity and richness. All available evidence confirmed an early post-Glacial expansion of broad-leaved trees, supporting the hypothesis on their glacial refugia in the Carpathians, as well as presence of closed-canopy forest well before the Neolithic. This environmental history was unfavourable for the survival of Early-Holocene forest-steppe species in the north-eastern White Carpathians and may explain the impoverished grassland flora compared to the south-western part. We conclude that contrasting Holocene histories may explain those patterns in species richness and distributions, which cannot be explained by recent environmental conditions alone.

Links

• GAP504/11/0429, research and development project: Name: Gradienty prostředí, vegetační dynamika a krajinné změny v Západních Karpatech od pozdního glaciálu po současnost (Acronym: PALAEO-CARPATHIANS)

Investor: Czech Science Foundation

• MUNI/M/1790/2014, interní kód MU: Name: Vztahy mezi člověkem, klimatem a vegetací v předindustriální krajině na různých prostorových měřítcích (Acronym: CLOVEG)

Investor: Masaryk University, INTERDISCIPLINARY - Interdisciplinary research projects