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A method for reconstructing temporal changes in vegetation functional trait composition using Holocene pollen assemblages

Carvalho, Fabio; Brown, Kerry A.; Waller, Martyn P.; Bunting, M. Jane; Boom, Arnoud; Leng, Melanie J.

Authors

Fabio Carvalho

Kerry A. Brown

Martyn P. Waller

Arnoud Boom

Melanie J. Leng



Abstract

Methods of reconstructing changes in plant traits over long time scales are needed to understand the impact of changing environmental conditions on ecosystem processes and services. Although Holocene pollen have been extensively used to provide records of vegetation history, few studies have adopted a functional trait approach that is pertinent to changes in ecosystem processes. Here, for woody and herbaceous fen peatland communities, we use modern pollen and vegetation data combined with pollen records from Holocene deposits to reconstruct vegetation functional dynamics. The six traits chosen (measures of leaf area-to-mass ratio and leaf nutrient content) are known to modulate species’ fitness and to vary with changes in ecosystem processes. We fitted linear mixed effects models between community weighted mean (CWM) trait values of the modern pollen and vegetation to determine whether traits assigned to pollen types could be used to reconstruct traits found in the vegetation from pollen assemblages. We used relative pollen productivity (RPP) correction factors in an attempt to improve this relationship. For traits showing the best fit between modern pollen and vegetation, we applied the model to dated Holocene pollen sequences from Fenland and Romney Marsh in eastern and southern England and reconstructed temporal changes in trait composition. RPP adjustment did not improve the linear relationship between modern pollen and vegetation. Leaf nutrient traits (leaf C and N) were generally more predictable from pollen data than mass-area traits. We show that inferences about biomass accumulation and decomposition rates can be made using Holocene trait reconstructions. While it is possible to reconstruct community-level trends for some leaf traits from pollen assemblages preserved in sedimentary archives in wetlands, we show the importance of testing methods in modern systems first and encourage further development of this approach to address issues concerning the pollen-plant abundance relationship and pollen source area.

Citation

Carvalho, F., Brown, K. A., Waller, M. P., Bunting, M. J., Boom, A., & Leng, M. J. (2019). A method for reconstructing temporal changes in vegetation functional trait composition using Holocene pollen assemblages. PLoS ONE, 14(5), Article e0216698. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216698

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 8, 2019
Online Publication Date May 29, 2019
Publication Date May 29, 2019
Deposit Date Aug 5, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal PLoS ONE
Print ISSN 1932-6203
Electronic ISSN 1932-6203
Publisher Public Library of Science
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 14
Issue 5
Article Number e0216698
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216698
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1797115
Publisher URL https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0216698
Additional Information Publication date 29th May

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Copyright Statement
© 2019 Carvalho et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.





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