Spatial scaling of pollen-based alpha and beta diversity within forest and open landscapes of Central Europe

Abstract

Pollen is an abundant fossil and the most common proxy for plant diversity during the Holocene. Based on datasets in open, forest, and mixed habitats, we used the spatial distribution of floristic diversity to estimate the source area of pollen diversity and identify factors influencing the significance of this relationship. Our study areas are Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and White Carpathians (the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic). Sampling 60 sites in forest and open habitats in two study regions with contrasting floristic diversity, we calculated taxonomic richness (alpha diversity) and total spatial variance (beta diversity) for pollen and floristic data along two transects, each 1 km long. Following this, we calculated the correlation between floristic and pollen diversity. We also assessed the consistency of the relationship in different habitats. Finally, we regressed local contributions of individual sites to the beta diversity of pollen and floristic data in each of the regions. There was a positive correlation between pollen and floristic richness in both habitats in both regions; open and mixed datasets were significant. The highest correlation (adjusted R2) mostly occurred within the first tens of metres (1.5-70) and then within the first hundreds of metres (250-550). Variances of pollen data significantly correlated with variances of floristic data between 100 and 250 m. Local contributions to beta diversity of pollen and plants significantly correlated in the forest and one of the mixed datasets. Floristic richness at the pollen site and position of the site within the landscape structure determine the sequence of the appearing species in the increasing distance. The number of species sets the source area of pollen richness and dissimilarity of appearing species controls the source area of pollen variance. These findings, linking pollen and floristic diversity, provide an essential stepping-stone for the reconstruction of historic plant diversity.