changes of species richness in heathland communities over 15 years following disturbances物种丰富度的变化在石南丛生的社区骚乱后超过15年.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Forestry Research Volume 2012, Article ID 547120, 12 pages doi:10.1155/2012/547120 Research Article Changes of Species Richness in Heathland Communities over 15 Years following Disturbances ´ L. Calvo, R. Tarrega, and E. Luis Area of Ecology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Leon, 24071 Leon, Spain ´ ´ Correspondence should be addressed to L. Calvo, leonor.calvo@unileon.es Received 13 October 2011; Revised 16 December 2011; Accepted 16 December 2011 Academic Editor: Piermaria Corona Copyright © 2012 L. Calvo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The aim of this study was to define the species richness patterns over a period of 15 years during the vegetation recovery process after disturbances (burning, cutting and ploughing) in heathlands. Three communities were selected: two dominated by Erica australis and one dominated by Calluna vulgaris. The alpha and gamma diversity patterns were site specific and influenced by the ecological traits of dominant shrub species. The shrubland dominated by Erica australis, typical resprouters with a fast regeneration, showed the highest values of alpha and gamma diversity during the first 7 years of regeneration. The heathland dominated by Calluna vulgaris, an obligate seeder, had a contrasting pattern of alpha and gamma diversity, as the highest values appeared from year 7 until year 14. Thus, the speed of regeneration of the dominant sh