@article{01J3QRAYQG2NGB1MJVKBC3ZX33,
  abstract     = {{Light availability profoundly influences plant communities, especially below dense tree canopies in forests. Canopy disturbances, altering forest floor light conditions, together with other environmental changes such as climate change, nitrogen deposition and legacy effects from previous land-use will simultaneously impact forest understorey communities. Yet, knowledge on the individual effects of these drivers and their potential interactions remains scarce. Here we performed a forest mesocosm experiment to assess the influence of warming, illumination (simulating canopy opening), nitrogen deposition and soil land-use history (comparing ancient and post-agricultural forest soil) on understorey community composition trajectories over a 7-year period. Strikingly, understorey communities primarily evolved in response to the deeply shaded ambient forest conditions, with experimental treatments exerting only secondary influences. The overruling trajectory steered all mesocosms towards slow-colonizing forest specialist communities dominated by spring geophytes with lower nutrient-demand. The illumination treatment and, to a lesser extent, warming and agricultural land-use legacy slowed down this trend by advancing fast-growing resource-acquisitive generalist species. Warm ambient temperatures induced thermophilization of plant communities in all treatments, including control plots, towards higher dominance of warm-adapted species. Nitrogen addition accelerated this thermophilization process and increased the community light-demand signature. Land-use legacy effects were limited in our study. Our findings underscore the essential role of limited light availability in preserving forest specialists in understorey communities and highlight the importance of maintaining a dense canopy cover to attenuate global change impacts. It is crucial to integrate this knowledge in forest management adaptation to global change, particularly in the face of increasing demands for wood and wood products and intensified natural canopy disturbances. Canopy disturbances, altering forest floor light conditions, together with climate change, nitrogen deposition and legacy effects from previous land use simultaneously impact forest understorey communities. Yet, knowledge on the individual effects of these drivers and their potential interactions remains scarce. We found that understorey communities evolved primarily in response to deep shade below the canopy, with experimental treatments exerting secondary influences. Forest specialist species were favoured and this trajectory was decelerated by illumination, warming and agricultural land-use history. Nitrogen addition accelerated the thermophilization process that happened in response to warming ambient climate. Our results emphasize the mitigating potential of dense canopies.image}},
  articleno    = {{e17443}},
  author       = {{Lorer, Eline and Landuyt, Dries and Blondeel, Haben and De Frenne, Pieter and Verheyen, Kris}},
  issn         = {{1354-1013}},
  journal      = {{GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY}},
  keywords     = {{climate change,forest understorey communities,global change,land-use legacies,light availability,mesocosm experiment,microclimate,nitrogen deposition,NITROGEN DEPOSITION,PLANT-COMMUNITIES,ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES,HERBACEOUS LAYER,TEMPERATE,DIVERSITY,RESPONSES,LIGHT,HERBS,VEGETATION}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{15}},
  title        = {{Forest floor environment overrules global change treatment effects on understorey communities in a mesocosm experiment}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17443}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}

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