Ecological Predictors of Extinction Risk in the Flora of Lowland England, UK
Ecological Predictors of Extinction Risk in the Flora of Lowland England, UK
复制标题
英国低地植物区系灭绝风险的生态预测
DOI：
10.1007/s10531-005-4313-4
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发表时间：
2006
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
C. Preston
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
K. Walker;C. Preston
我们利用历史和当代记录来确定贝德福德郡和北安普敦郡植物灭绝的规模，并评估灭绝物种是否具有一系列生态和植物地理特征。自 1700 年以来，这两个县都失去了 94 个物种（占本土植物群的 11%），灭绝率从 19 世纪每十年 3.8 至 4.8 个物种增加到 1950 年后每十年 6-8 个物种。灭绝风险最重要的预测因素是英国的活动范围大小以及与栖息地专业化和竞争能力相关的特征：与环境水平非常低的开放栖息地相关的较差竞争者（即较短的压力耐受力）。或高 pH 值和土壤湿度（例如低地沼泽、矮灌木荒地以及酸性和钙质草地）在研究区域灭绝的可能性比单纯偶然预期的要大得多。其中许多物种的分布非常局部化和/或出现在英格兰南部（即北部和大洋洲）其分布范围的北部、南部或东部边缘。相反，灭绝与扩散能力或繁殖模式之间没有明确或显着的关系。这些发现与全国趋势一致，表明栖息地丧失和富营养化是过去 300 年来英格兰低地人口灭绝的主要原因。然而，需要进行更精细的研究来评估栖息地破碎化、气候变化和大气污染等“低水平”压力是否对已经因栖息地丧失而严重减少的种群产生额外影响，并量化已知在同一时期减少的更广泛物种的丰度变化。
We used historical and contemporary records to determine the scale of plant extinction in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, and to assess whether extinct species share a range of ecological and phytogeographical traits. Since 1700 both counties have lost 94 species (11% of their native floras) with the rate of extinction increasing from 3.8 to 4.8 species per decade in the 19th century to 6–8 species per decade after 1950. The most important predictors of extinction risk were English range size and traits associated with habitat specialisation and competitive ability: poor competitors (i.e. short stress-tolerators) associated with open habitats with very low or high pH and soil moisture (e.g. lowland bogs, dwarf-shrub heath and acid and calcareous grassland) were much more likely to have become extinct in the study region than would have been expected by chance alone. Many of these species have very localised distributions and/or occur at the northern, southern or eastern edges of their range in southern England (i.e. Northern and Oceanic). In contrast, there was no clear or significant relationship between extinction and dispersal ability or reproductive mode. These findings, which parallel national trends, indicate that habitat loss and eutrophication have been the main causes of population extinction in lowland England over the last 300 years. However, more fine-scaled studies are required to assess whether ‘low-level’ stresses, such as habitat fragmentation, climate change and atmospheric pollution, are having additional impacts on populations already severely depleted by habitat loss, as well as to quantify changes in the abundance of more widespread species which are known to have declined over the same period.