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Based on queries of the phytosociological databank BERGWALD, a compilation of 3.504 forest vegetation plots from the Bavarian Alps, the ecological niche of Abies alba is re-assessed. The tree species occurs mostly admixed in mountain forests with Fagus and Picea rather than forming distinctive communities of its own. Climatically, Abies is widely distributed to the upper limit of the montane belt, but occurs only sparsely in subalpine forest. Analysis of Ellenberg indicator values based on total species composition yielded the following results: As a tolerant species Abies regeneration has a marked preference for shady forest, which in turn Abies tree layers themselves help create. It also has a clear preference for acidic topsoil conditions. Sites with low N-supply, such as early successional stages on raw carbonate soils, are rarely colonised by Abies. Also, dry and markedly wet forest sites in the region are avoided by Abies. Permutation-based indicator species analysis found a large number of common forest species as being significantly associated with Abies and its frequent companion Fagus sylvatica, whereas there is a negative relationship with more specialised Seslerion and Erico-Pinion species. As Abies alba has very few specific companion species not shared with either Fagus or Picea, the delimitation of Abietetum-syntaxa appears mostly motivated by ecological rather than phytosociological considerations. As a result of its susceptibility towards game browsing, Abies regeneration is an indicator of high woody species richness. The study broadly confirms Abies alba's status as a climax species intermediate between Fagus and Picea, and demonstrates the potential of large phytosociological databanks for niche modelling.
Ein pflanzensoziologisches Modell der Schattentoleranz von Baumarten in den Bayerischen Alpen
(2007)
The ecological niche, as a summary of the environment in which a tree species can live, is a central concept in vegetation ecology and its application in silviculture. While the fundamental niche focusses on the physiological constraints of survival and growth, the realised niche takes competition in real communities into account. To understand realised niches in a causal fashion requires knowledge of the life cycle of plant species. The concept of regeneration niche is based on the notion that establishment and juvenile growth are particularly sensitive stages. Obviously, silviculturalists must be particularly interested in regeneration niches. The database BERGWALD contains 4,934 phytosociological plots from mountain forests and related vegetation types of the Bavarian Alps. The detailed information on plant species composition (trees, tree regeneration, shrubs, herbs and bryophytes) and cover has so far been used extensively for deriving vegetation units, site types and groups of indicator species. In the present study the database content was analysed with regard to the ecology of tree species in general and their regeneration niche in particular. The availability of light as a crucial resource that changes during forest succession was estimated by calculating average Ellenberg indicator values (mL) based on total field and bryophyte layer composition. The relative frequency of plots across the mL gradient in the total database was juxtaposed to the occurrence of the 16 most common tree species in the tree and in the regeneration layer, respectively. [...] As expected, the realised niches of tree species on the light gradient corresponded broadly to Ellenberg's L-value of tree regeneration. As the regional climax, Abies alba and Fagus sylvatica have coincident optima of tree layer and juvenile occurrences in closed, mature stands. Ulmus glabra and Fraxinus excelsior, as species of lower altitude, exhibit niches most similar to these climax species, followed by Acer pseudoplatanus and Picea abies, two of the most frequent species, that occur from low elevations to the timber line. The intermediate role of these four species is confirmed, as regeneration occurs mostly at light levels higher than those found under adult trees of the same species. Against expectations, Taxus baccata clearly prefers stands with moderate to high light, as do Sorbus aria, Sorbus aucuparia and Alnus incana. While Larix decidua and Pinus cembra occupy very similar overall niches, tree layer and regeneration niches of Larix differ markedly, whereas coincident layer niches in Pinus cembra underpin its status as a climax species at tree line. Pinus sylvestris and Salix eleagnos are typical shade-intolerant pioneers, of which regeneration is practically restricted to non-forest vegetation. Pinus rotundata and Juniperus communis are small trees that are entirely restricted to open stands subject to geomorphological activity. The results demonstrate the potential of phytosociological databases for studying the niches of tree species. To be sure, such analyses are no replacement for physiological and experimental studies. The research community is invited to use this source as a reference framework and an empirical validation for more specialised research.