Table 4.
Summary of significant differences and direction of response in aggregated means of the ten measured continuous plant traits among treatments (summarized in column 2) in the 11 sites of the VISTA project (results of within-sites one-way ANOVAs)
| Site | Disturbance/resource treatments | VPH | RPH | Flower | Seed mass | SLA | LDMC | LNC | LCC | LPC | StDMC | % Traits significant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IS-KDE | Grazing/abandonment | nd | *** | ns | ns | ns | ns | * | * | ns | nd | 38 (8) |
| + | + | + | ||||||||||
| PT-MER | Agriculture/grazing/abandonment | *** | nd | *** | * | *** | *** | ns | *** | *** | nd | 88 (8) |
| + | – | + | – | + | + | – | ||||||
| GR-LAG | Grazing/abandonment | ns | ** | *** | ns | ** | ns | * | ns | *** | * | 60 (10) |
| +/– | +/– | – | – | – | –/+ | |||||||
| FR-HGM | Abandonment | ns | *** | ** | ns | *** | ** | *** | ns | * | *** | 70 (10) |
| + | + | – | + | – | – | + | ||||||
| GE-MNP | Grazing/abandonment/water | ** | *** | *** | ** | *** | *** | *** | *** | nd | ** | 100 (9) |
| + | + | + | – | – | – | – | + | + | ||||
| CZ-OHR | Mowing/fertilization | *** | *** | * | * | *** | * | * | ns | *** | ns | 80 (10) |
| + | + | + | + | – | + | – | – | |||||
| SE-BAL | Grazing/abandonment | * | ** | * | ns | ns | ** | * | ns | nd | ** | 67 (9) |
| + | + | – | + | – | + | |||||||
| SC-SUT | Agriculture/abandonment | ns | nd | *** | ns | ns | ns | ns | ** | *** | ** | 44 (9) |
| + | + | + | + | |||||||||
| FR-ERC | Mowing/grazing/fertilization | ** | nd | ** | * | * | ns | ns | ns | * | * | 66 (9) |
| – | + | + | – | – | + | |||||||
| FR-LAU | Mowing/grazing/fertilization | *** | ** | a | ns | *** | *** | *** | ns | ** | *** | 80 (10) |
| + | + | + | – | + | – | – | + | |||||
| NO-BER | Grazing | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns | nd | 0 (9) |
| % Sites significant | 60 (10) | 88 (8) | 82 (11) | 37 (11) | 64 (11) | 55 (11) | 64 (11) | 36 (11) | 78 (9) | 88 (8) | ||
| Across-sites | Most used/least used | *** | *** | *** | ns | *** | ** | *** | *** | *** | *** | 90 (10) |
| + | + | + | – | + | – | + | – | + |
The last column gives the percentage of traits showing significant differences among treatments within a site (the number in parentheses is the number of traits available at that site), and the penultimate row gives the percentage of sites in which a particular trait varies significantly among treatments (the number in parentheses is the number of sites for which the trait is available). The final row gives the results of a REML analysis contrasting the most and least used treatments across the 11 sites.
Abbreviations: VPH, vegetative plant height; RPH, reproductive plant height; Flower, time of flowering; SLA, specific leaf area; LDMC, leaf dry matter content; LNC, leaf nitrogen concentration; LCC, leaf carbon concentration; LPC, leaf phosphorus concentration; StDMC, stem dry matter content. ns, not significant; a, P < 0·10; *, P < 0·05; **, P < 0·01; ***, P < 0·001. nd, no data. +, increase; −, decrease in response to decreasing land use. Hump-shaped responses are indicated by +/– or –/+.