Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Impacts of atmospheric pollution on the plant communities of British acid grasslands
AU - Payne, R.
AU - Stevens, Carly
AU - Dise, N. B.
AU - Gowing, D. J. G.
AU - Pilkington, M.G.
AU - Phoenix, G.K.
AU - Emmett, B.A.
AU - Ashmore, M. R.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Air pollutants are recognised as important agents of ecosystem change but few studies consider the effects of multiple pollutants and their interactions. Here we use ordination, constrained cluster analysis and indicator value analyses to identify potential environmental controls on species composition, ecological groupings and indicator species in a gradient study of UK acid grasslands. The community composition of these grasslands is related to climate, grazing, ozone exposure and nitrogen deposition, with evidence for an interaction between the ecological impacts of base cation and nitrogen deposition. Ozone is a key agent in species compositional change but is not associated with a reduction in species richness or diversity indices, showing the subtly different drivers on these two aspects of ecosystem degradation. Our results demonstrate the effects of multiple interacting pollutants, which may collectively have a greater impact than any individual agent.
AB - Air pollutants are recognised as important agents of ecosystem change but few studies consider the effects of multiple pollutants and their interactions. Here we use ordination, constrained cluster analysis and indicator value analyses to identify potential environmental controls on species composition, ecological groupings and indicator species in a gradient study of UK acid grasslands. The community composition of these grasslands is related to climate, grazing, ozone exposure and nitrogen deposition, with evidence for an interaction between the ecological impacts of base cation and nitrogen deposition. Ozone is a key agent in species compositional change but is not associated with a reduction in species richness or diversity indices, showing the subtly different drivers on these two aspects of ecosystem degradation. Our results demonstrate the effects of multiple interacting pollutants, which may collectively have a greater impact than any individual agent.
KW - Ozone; Nitrogen deposition; Base cation deposition; Ordination; Critical loads; Biodiversity
U2 - 10.1016/j.envpol.2011.06.009
DO - 10.1016/j.envpol.2011.06.009
M3 - Journal article
VL - 159
SP - 2602
EP - 2608
JO - Environmental Pollution
JF - Environmental Pollution
SN - 0269-7491
IS - 10
ER -