Plant functional traits match grazing gradient and vegetation patterns on mountain pastures in SW Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Transformation processes in countries like Kyrgyzstan often lead to intensifi cation or extensifi cation of grazing on mountain pastures. In order to reveal the impact of livestock grazing on vegetation patterns, we examined traits of dominant and frequent species in four previously classifi ed plant communities. In particular we analysed trait-environment relationships using multivariate RLQ analysis and univariate fourth-corner statistics in order to identify most relevant environmental gradients. Functional Response Groups (FRG’s) of plant taxa were derived from clustered RLQ ordination space, and were subsequently analysed for their proportionality in previously identifi ed plant communities. Plant height, growth form, lateral spread, fl owering time and life cycle showed a high degree of correlation with grazing. RLQ analysis revealed a high differentiation of plant trait values along a grazing gradient on the fi rst RLQ axis. FRG’s matched three of four vegetation types by constancy and fi delity values (phi) well. Thus, trait-based analyses were successfully used to identify functionally similar groups of species with regard to different regimes of grazing pressure.