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Global changes in climate and land use are occurring at an unprecedented rate, often triggering drastic shifts in plant communities. This study aims to reconstruct the changes that occurred over 35 years in the plant communities of temperate bogs subjected to indirect human-induced disturbances. In 2015-17, we resurveyed the vascular flora of 76 plots located in 16 bogs of southern Québec (Canada) first sampled in 1982. We evaluated changes in species richness, frequency of occurrence and abundance, while considering species shade-tolerance and preferential habitat. We calculated beta diversity as between-site similarities in composition, and evaluated differences between the two surveys using tests for homogeneity in multivariate dispersion. We found a significant increase in species richness and beta diversity over the last 35 years associated with major species turnovers, indicating a biotic differentiation of the Sphagnum-bog plant communities. These changes were mostly associated with an increase in the abundance and frequency of shade-tolerant and facultative species, suggesting a global phenomenon of woody encroachment. Because the observed changes occurred in a few decades on sites free of in situ human disturbances, we suggest that they were likely induced by the synergic effect of the agricultural drainage occurring in the surrounding mineral soils, climate warming, and nitrogen atmospheric depositions. We also believe that further changes are to be expected, as the triggering factors persist. Finally, our results highlight the need for increased bog conservation or restauration efforts. Indeed, a rise in beta diversity due to the introduction of nearby terrestrial species could induce biotic homogenization of the bog flora with that of surrounding habitats and ultimately impoverish the regional species pool.

The disruption of hydrological connectivity by human activities such as flood regulation or land-use changes strongly impacts riparian plant communities. However, landscape-scale processes have generally been neglected in riparian restoration projects as opposed to local conditions, even though such processes might largely influence community recovery. We surveyed plant composition of field edges and riverbanks in 51 riparian zones restored by tree planting (565 1-m2 plots) within two agricultural watersheds in southeastern Québec, Canada. Once the effects of environmental variables (hydrology, soil, agriculture, landscape, restoration) were partialled out, three models of spatial autocorrelation based on Moran's eigenvector maps and asymmetric eigenvector maps were compared to quantify the pathways and direction of the spatial processes structuring riparian communities. The ecological mechanisms underlying predominant spatial processes were then assessed by regression trees linking species response to spatial gradients to seed and morphological traits. The structure of riparian communities was predominantly related to unidirectional spatial gradients from upstream to downstream along watercourses, which contributed more to species composition than bidirectional gradients along watercourses or overland. Plant traits selected by regression trees explained 22% of species response to unidirectional upstream–downstream gradients in field edges and 24% in riverbanks, and predominantly corresponded to seed traits rather than morphological traits of the adult plants. Our study showed that even in agriculturally open landscapes, water flow remains a major force structuring spatially riparian plant communities by filtering species according to their seed traits, thereby suggesting long-distance dispersal as a predominant process. Preserving hydrological connectivity at the watershed-scale and restoring riparian plant communities from upstream to downstream should be encouraged to improve the ecological integrity of rivers running through agricultural landscapes.

Questions: Plant community resilience largely depends on the secondary succession induced by species re-colonization from seed banks. Soil seed bank resilience is, however, poorly understood, especially in regularly disturbed habitats like riparian zones. Two questions were asked: (1) what are the changes in species diversity experienced by riparian soil seed banks along successional trajectories, and (2) to what extent do riparian soil seed banks promote vegetation resilience during secondary succession? Location: Southeast Quebec, Canada. Methods: Soils were collected along five rivers in field edges and riverbanks of post-agricultural riparian zones with three contrasting successional stages (unplanted, planted with trees 15–17 yr prior to sampling, natural riparian forests), and their seed bank composition determined with the seedling emergence method. Species richness in seed banks was assessed along successional trajectories for distinct ecological groups, using LMM. The compositions of soil seed banks and standing vegetation (from botanical surveys) were compared based on NMDS and indicator species analysis. Results: Seed bank species richness decreased along successional trajectories. Tree-planted riparian zones were generally closer to unplanted riparian zones than to natural riparian forests, the latter being more species-rich for natives, trees, shrubs and zoochores, and species-poor for exotics, forbs and stress-tolerators. Likewise, seed bank species composition of unplanted and tree-planted riparian zones was similar but differed from that of natural riparian forests. Conversely, standing vegetation of tree-planted riparian zones was intermediate between early and late successional stages, at least at field edges. For the three successional stages, seed bank composition clearly differed from standing vegetation. Conclusions: The high resilience of riparian plant communities appeared poorly related to the dynamics of their soil seed banks. This species shift between seed banks and standing vegetation during secondary succession is likely due to periodic flooding, leading to the regular turnover of seeds. The resilience of riparian communities might thus be more influenced by spatial dispersal along rivers and across landscapes than by in situ temporal dispersal in soils.

Ecosystem services (ES) are benefits people receive from nature. To sustain these benefits, we need to spatially connect communities benefitting from specific ES with landscape features that generate the ES. A variety of process‐based models support ES assessments by estimating the biophysical supply of ES that comes from landscapes. However, less attention has been given to how ES flow from landscapes to beneficiary groups. A ‘serviceshed’ is defined as the spatial area that provides an ecosystem service to beneficiaries at a specific location—thus connecting people to the landscapes and seascapes upon which they depend through ES flows. In this article, we propose a general framework to empirically define serviceshed boundaries. Using publicly available data, we apply this framework to two provisioning and two regulating services (1) agricultural and fishing livelihoods and (2) pollination and coastal flood control, respectively, in Canada. We find that agricultural fields of different types and sizes contribute livelihood value to 85% of the communities in the agricultural landscape, and fishing grounds of different sizes contribute to 24% of the communities in the fishing study area. On average, communities with a lower proportion of agricultural labour are associated with larger fields, whilst larger fishing grounds were associated with communities with a greater percentage of their population in fisheries, showing how different ES can have varied relationships with beneficiary communities. For regulating services, we find 66% of pollinator‐supplying areas are within the serviceshed of farming communities. Natural habitats and agricultural land account for 72% and 28% of this serviceshed area, respectively. Our models suggest also that 26% of saltmarshes are within the serviceshed of flood‐prone communities and most coastal communities in our study area benefit from saltmarshes, especially from those without dykes. We demonstrate how serviceshed mapping, when integrating social and ecological information, can be useful in multiple decision contexts. Servicesheds can help planners and managers better design zoning restrictions, restoration activities to benefit communities, or subsidy programmes to replace the value of ES lost due to climate change or land use development. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Résumé Les services écologiques (SÉ) sont les bienfaits que la nature procure aux humains. Il est. nécessaire de maintenir une connexion spatiale entre l'endroit où sont produits les SÉ et les communautés bénéficiaires afin d'identifier les caractéristiques paysagères importantes pour assurer le bien‐être des gens parmi les populations ciblées. Une variété de modèles basés sur des processus permettent d'évaluer l'apport en SÉ en estimant simplement l'offre biophysique des SÉ provenant des paysages. Cependant, moins d'attention a été portée sur la manière dont les flux de SÉ atteignent les groupes bénéficiaires au sein des paysages. Un bassin de service ou “serviceshed” est. défini comme la zone spatiale qui fournit un SÉ à des bénéficiaires à un endroit spécifique, reliant ainsi les gens aux paysages terrestres et marins dont ils dépendent par le biais des flux de SÉ. Dans cet article, nous proposons un cadre général pour définir empiriquement les limites des servicesheds. En utilisant des données publiques, nous appliquons ensuite ce cadre à deux services d'approvisionnement, soit les produits agricoles et de pêche, ainsi qu'à deux services de régulation, soit la pollinisation et le contrôle des inondations côtières, au Canada. Nous constatons que les champs agricoles de différents types et tailles contribuent à la valeur des produits agricoles pour 85% des communautés des paysages agricoles, et que les zones de pêche de différentes tailles contribuent à 24% des communautés dans la zone d'étude de la pêche. En moyenne, les communautés ayant une proportion plus faible de main‐d'œuvre agricole étaient associées à des champs plus grands, tandis que des zones de pêche plus vastes étaient rattachées à des communautés ayant un pourcentage plus élevé de pêcheurs au sein de leur population, illustrant bien la diversité de relations entre les SÉ et les communautés bénéficiaires. Parmi toutes les zones fournissant des services de régulation, nous constatons que 66% des habitats de pollinisateurs se trouvent dans les servicesheds des communautés agricoles. Les habitats naturels et les terres agricoles représentent respectivement 72% et 28% de ces zones de servicesheds. Nos modèles suggèrent aussi que 26% des marais salés font partie des zones de servicesheds des communautés vulnérables aux inondations et que la plupart des communautés côtières dans notre aire d'étude bénéficient des marais salés, particulièrement ceux sans digues. Nous montrons comment la cartographie des servicesheds dans plusieurs contextes, permet d'aborder les compromis dans la planification territoriale, lorsque certains paramètres sociaux et écologiques sont pris en compte. Le concept de servicesheds peut aider les planificateurs et les gestionnaires à mieux concevoir le zonage des territoires et les activités de restauration au profit des communautés de même qu'à mettre sur pied des programmes de subventions pour compenser la valeur des SE perdus en raison des changements climatiques ou du développement des terres. 摘要 生态系统服务是人们从大自然中获得的益处。为了维持这些益处，我们需要在空间上将受益于特定生态系统服务的社区与产生生态系统服务的特定景观特征联系起来。各种基于过程的模型通过估算来自景观的生态系统服务的生物物理供应来支持生态系统服务评估。然而，对于生态系统服务如何从景观流向受益群体的关注较少。 “生态系统服务域”(serviceshed)被定义为在特定地点的受益者提供生态系统服务的特定空间区域，该区域通过生态系统服务流将特定群体与其服务产生地域或海域联系起来。在本文中，我们提出了一个实践性通用框架，用于辨别该服务域的边界。我们利用公共数据，将该框架应用于加拿大的两个研究区的两种供给服务和两种调节服务，分别是(1)农业和渔业生计以及(2)授粉和沿海洪水控制。 我们发现，不同类型和规模的农田为研究区85% 的社区提供了生计价值，而不同规模的渔场为研究区中 24% 的社区贡献了生计价值。平均而言，农业劳动力比例较低的社区与面积较大的农田相关联，而面积较大的渔场则与渔业人口比例较高的社区相关联，这表明生态系统服务生产区与收益者之间的多样化联系。 在调节服务方面，我们发现 66%的授粉供应区位于授粉作物的服务域内。自然栖息地和农业用地分别占服务域面积的 72% 和 28%。我们的模型还表明，26% 的沿海湿地位于易受洪水影响社区的服务域，我们研究区域的大多数沿海社区都受益于这些湿地，尤其是那些未受堤坝影响的湿地。 我们展示了如何将社会和生态信息整合到一个区域单元，并将其用于多种决策情景中。生态系统服务域可以帮助规划者和管理者更好地设计分区限制、栖息地重建或社区补贴计划，以替代因气候变化或土地利用开发而损失的生态系统服务价值。 Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Questions: In mesic forests, ecological filters due to past agricultural land use reduce forest herb recoionization. Is the recruitment of such species also limited in tree-planted riparian zones by local filters such as competition, shade level and soil conditions? Location: Two agricultural watersheds, southeastern Québec, Canada. Methods: Three herbs characteristic of natural riparian forests were selected for this study: one graminoid, Glyceria striata, and two ferns, Matteucda struthiopteris and Onoclea sensibilis. Effects of shade level (75% vs 50%) and soil type (forest vs agricultural soil) on seedling emergence were evaluated in a seed-sowing greenhouse experiment. In a 2-yr transplant field experiment, seedling and sporophyte establishment was monitored in five natural riparian forests and five tree-planted post-agricultural riparian zones on microsites with understorey vegetation kept intact or cleared and on forest or agricultural soils. Using a priori contrasts, we assessed the influence of habitat type (natural riparian forests or tree-planted riparian zones), competition and post-agricultural soil type on transplant survival and growth. Results: Seedling emergence tended to be higher on forest soils for G. striata while sporophyte emergence increased under 75% shade for M. struthiopteris. Transplanted seedlings and sporophytes of the three species survived and grew as well in tree-planted riparian zones as in natural riparian forests. In tree-planted riparian zones however, competing understorey vegetation reduced the survival and growth of G. striata and agricultural soil reduced the growth of M. struthiopteris. For O. sensibilis, only sporophyte survival was reduced by competition in tree-planted riparian zones. Conclusions: Planting trees in post-agricultural riparian zones fosters establishment of forest herbs similar than those observed in natural riparian forests. Additional environmental filters specific to tree-planted riparian zones, however, offset the positive influence of trees and limit recoionization of the three studied species. Considering the partial restoration success of establishment niches by tree planting, controlling spontaneous vegetation after tree planting is advised when conceivable and cost-effective to promote the recoionization of environmentally-limited forest herbs. Long-term transplant experiments should be more often conducted to identify the ecological filters that reduce plant recoionization, and thereby design the most effective restoration strategies.

The consequences of considering ecosystem services (ES) in conservation assessment are still widely debated. The degree of success depends on the extent to which biodiversity and ES can be secured under joint conservation actions. Unlike biodiversity, ES conservation is inseparably linked to human beneficiaries. Reconciling biodiversity with ES and conservation can be particularly challenging in sparsely populated areas. This study, in a sparsely-populated region of eastern Canada, focused on freshwater wetland biodiversity and ten ES provided by wetlands. Within a given maximal total area, the results showed that planning for biodiversity underrepresented local flow ES supply by 57% and demand by 61% in conservation networks. Planning for ES alone underrepresented wetland biodiversity surrogates by an average of 34%. Considering both biodiversity and ES simultaneously, all of the biodiversity and ES targets were achieved with only a 6% mean increase in area. Achieving all conservation targets starting from a network that was primarily built for either ES or biodiversity features alone was two to five times less efficient than considering both ES and biodiversity simultaneously in conservation assessment. A better framework is required to translate these spatial synergies into effective joint conservation actions.

In urban areas, estimating the effect of land cover (LC) data spatial resolution on ecosystem services (ES) mapping remains a challenge. In particular, mapping spatial flows of ES, from greenspaces to beneficiaries, may be more sensitive to LC data resolution than mapping potential supply or demand separately. Our objectives were to compare the sensitivity of global- and local-flow ES maps to LC data resolution, and to assess the effect of LC data resolution within different types of urban land uses. A case study was conducted in the city of Laval, Canada. Carbon storage (a global-flow ES), urban cooling and pollination (two local-flow ES) were mapped using LC data aggregated from 1 m to 15 m. Results were analyzed for districts (comprising various types of urban land uses), and for 480 x 480 m residential and commercial zones. Greenspace cover was generally underestimated at coarser spatial resolutions; as a result, so were ES potential supply and flow. For urban cooling and pollination, the effect of LC data spatial resolution on ES flow also depended on changes in the spatial configuration of ES potential supply relative to ES demand. The magnitude of the effect differed among land use types. However, the effect was also highly variable between similar landscapes, suggesting that it is very sensitive to LC structure. To adequately map the ES provided by the small greenspaces scattered throughout the urban matrix, using land cover data with a spatial resolution of 5 m or finer is recommended, especially for local-flow ES.

Following ecosystem-scale restoration of a post-harvested bog in Eastern Canada, a long term monitoring program was set up. Peat, water and plant chemistry data were collected during 7 years in a restored peatland, an adjoining post-harvested non-restored peatland, and in a neighboring natural peatland to determine the potential of chemistry data for evaluating of restoration success over time. We used a multivariate Principal Response Curves (PRC) approach to study the temporal evolution of peat, water, and plant tissue chemistry. Nitrogen, iron, and sodium were the most responsive elements to restoration in the peat. Water chemistry was still different between natural and restored sections 7 years after restoration, but the difference was not constant over the growing season. The analyses of plant tissue chemistry provided useful information related to fundamental processes (nutrient retention/leaching, plant nutrition). Among other, it highlighted P deficiencies in the non-restored section, and nutrient replenishment in the restored plant tissues. P levels appear to be a good indicator of restoration success and should be used routinely in monitoring studies. Since the three plants species tested in this study displayed different responses to restoration, we also recommend targeting key species or functional groups for monitoring.

Modern extraction methods permit peat to be extracted to the minerotrophic layer of ombrotrophic peatlands (bogs). As the environmental conditions of these harvested peatlands are similar to minerotrophic peatlands (fens), such sites should be restored towards a fen system. However, it is not known whether fen species would recolonize such harvested sites on their own. We surveyed vegetation and environmental variables in 28 harvested peatlands with minerotrophic residual peat across Canada and in Minnesota, USA, and compared them to 11 undisturbed fens. Compared to harvested bogs previously studied, the harvested fens sampled in this study revegetated remarkably quickly (50%–70% vegetation cover) when the hydrological conditions were suitable. However, revegetation was less extensive for sites that were still drained (25% vegetation cover). A high water table and a thin layer of residual peat were the most important factors contributing to rapid recolonization rates. Although the harvested fens were rapidly recolonized, species composition was not the same as observed on undisturbed fens. Carex and Sphagnum, dominant in undisturbed fens, generally did not recolonize harvested fens. Thus, whether the goal is to increase species richness or to ensure the return of peat accumulating functions, fen species may have to be actively introduced.

The functional trait-based approach is increasingly used to predict responses of ecological communities to disturbances, but most studies target a single taxonomic group. Here, we assessed the resilience of a forest ecosystem to an overabundant herbivore population by assessing changes in 19 functional traits for plant, 13 traits for ground beetle and 16 traits for songbird communities after six years of controlled browsing on Anticosti Island (Quebec, Canada). Our results indicated that plants were more responsive to 6 years of reduced browsing pressure than ground beetles and songbirds. However, co-inertia analysis revealed that ground beetle communities responded in a similar way than plant communities with stronger relationships between plant and ground beetle traits at reduced deer density, a pattern not detected between plant and songbird. High deer density favored plants species that reproduce vegetatively and with abiotic pollination and seed dispersal, traits implying little interaction with animal. On the other hand, traits found at reduced deer density mostly involved trophic interaction. For example, plants in this treatment had fleshy fruits and large seeds dispersed by birds or other animals whereas ground beetle species were carnivorous. Overall, our results suggest that plant communities recovered some functional components to overabundant herbivore populations, since most traits associated with undisturbed forests were reestablished after six years of deer reduction. The re-establishment of functional plant communities with traits involving trophic interaction induces changes in the ground-beetle trait community, but forest structure remains likely insufficiently heterogeneous to shift the songbird trait community within six years.