Habitat-specific trends in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in European plant communities over a century

Despite widespread concern over global biodiversity loss, the balance between gains and losses within local plant communities remains contentious, largely due to a scarcity of integrative, long-term and large-scale analyses across different habitats and multiple facets of biodiversity. Here, we analyse 57,390 vegetation-plot time series of vascular plants across Europe to quantify the average and habitat-specific trends in taxonomic, functional, phylogenetic, and gamma diversity, alongside with changes in threatened Red List, non-native, and specialist versus generalist species. We find that, over the last 100 years, plant communities gained on average 0.7% in vegetation cover and 0.2% in species number per year, associated with gains in functional and phylogenetic diversity, non-native, Red List, and generalist species. Diversity changes are most pronounced in mire and wetland communities. Differences among habitat types and habitat-change trajectory (stable, successional, disturbed), together with the most recent observation year, explain 2.1%-36.6% of the variation in diversity trends. Habitat-specific gamma diversity showed no general trends and only increased in stable grasslands and successional sparsely vegetated habitats. By integrating habitat types and change trajectories, we reconcile some of the conflicting narratives on local biodiversity change in favour of a more nuanced understanding of the observed variation in local biodiversity change.

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Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-05-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-72112-5
Primary Topic
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Type
article
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article

Habitat-specific trends in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in European plant communities over a century

Alicia Valdés, Michele De Sanctis, Wolfgang Schmidt, Ilona Knollová et al.
Nature Communications
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
article

Habitat-specific trends in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in European plant communities over a century

Alicia Valdés, Michele De Sanctis, Wolfgang Schmidt, Ilona Knollová, Behlül Güler, Nathan G. Swenson, Frederic Lens, Gianalberto Losapio, Marcello Tomaselli, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Ana González‐Robles, Gianmaria Bonari, Veronika Fontana, Estela Illa, Jan Divíšek, Valerijus Rašomavičius, María Laura Carranza, Bernd Lenzner, Grzegorz Swacha, Alicia Teresa Rosario Acosta, Rubén Tarifa, Emmanuel Garbolino, Manuele Bazzichetto, Gabriella Damasceno, Bruno Enrico Leone Cerabolini, Marta Carboni, Tanvir Ahmed Shovon, Marko J. Spasojevic, Francesca Napoleone, José Manuel Álvarez‐Martínez, Martin Večeřa, Irena Axmanová, K Vassilev, G. Hahn, Udayangani Liu, Stephan Kambach, A. Mori, Renske Onstein, Francesco Maria Sabatini, Klára Friesová, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, Remigiusz Pielech, Vigdis Vandvik, Markus Bernhardt-Römermann, Lubomír Tichý, Alexander Novakovskiy, Michael Glaser, Jonathan Lenoir, Roger Norum, Bruno X. Pinho, Serge Sheremetiev, Christian Rossi, Michal Hájek, Antonio J. Perea, Erwin Bergmeier, Steven Jansen, Idoia Biurrun, Robin J. Pakeman, Ute Jandt, Franz Essl, Josep Peñuelas, Stefan Dullinger, Florian Jansen, Borja Jiménez-Alfaro, Milan Chytrý, Marcos Bergmann Carlucci, Julie Messier, Christiane Roscher, Jiří Dolezal, Anke Jentsch, Evan Weiher, Tracy Hruska, W. Daniel Kissling, Petr Petřík, Laura Méndez, David Schellenberger Costa, Jürgen Dengler, Helge Bruelheide, Peter Poschlod, Alessandro Chiarucci, Brody Sandel
article en

Abstract

Despite widespread concern over global biodiversity loss, the balance between gains and losses within local plant communities remains contentious, largely due to a scarcity of integrative, long-term and large-scale analyses across different habitats and multiple facets of biodiversity. Here, we analyse 57,390 vegetation-plot time series of vascular plants across Europe to quantify the average and habitat-specific trends in taxonomic, functional, phylogenetic, and gamma diversity, alongside with changes in threatened Red List, non-native, and specialist versus generalist species. We find that, over the last 100 years, plant communities gained on average 0.7% in vegetation cover and 0.2% in species number per year, associated with gains in functional and phylogenetic diversity, non-native, Red List, and generalist species. Diversity changes are most pronounced in mire and wetland communities. Differences among habitat types and habitat-change trajectory (stable, successional, disturbed), together with the most recent observation year, explain 2.1%-36.6% of the variation in diversity trends. Habitat-specific gamma diversity showed no general trends and only increased in stable grasslands and successional sparsely vegetated habitats. By integrating habitat types and change trajectories, we reconcile some of the conflicting narratives on local biodiversity change in favour of a more nuanced understanding of the observed variation in local biodiversity change.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 17(1)
University of Siena (IT), University of California, Riverside (US), University of Notre Dame (US), University of Insubria (IT), University of Bern (CH), Roma Tre University (IT), Leiden University (NL), University of Parma (IT), University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (US), Jagiellonian University (PL), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Naturalis Biodiversity Center (NL), University of Molise (IT), University of Vienna (AT), Eurac Research (IT), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE), University of Waterloo (CA), James Hutton Institute (GB), Santa Clara University (US), Universidad de Oviedo (ES), University of the Basque Country (ES), University of Milan (IT), Universidad de Jaén (ES), Dokuz Eylül University (TR), University of Regina (CA), Universität Ulm (DE), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZ), Masaryk University (CZ), University of Wrocław (PL), Institut Superieur de Gestion (FR), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BG), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (GB), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE), Swiss National Park (CH), University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (CZ), Institute of Biology of Komi Scientific Centre (RU), Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas (ES), Wrocław Zoo (PL), Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés (FR), National Biodiversity Institute (CR), Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research (BG), Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany (CZ), Nature Research Centre (LT), National Research Council (LK), Jena University Hospital (DE), Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (ES), University of Bergen (NO), Université de Picardie Jules Verne (FR), University of Rostock (DE), Universidade Federal do Paraná (BR), University of Bayreuth (DE), University of Regensburg (DE), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE), Universitat de Barcelona (ES), University of Göttingen (DE), The University of Tokyo (JP), Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE), Universidad de Sevilla (ES), ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences (CH), Sapienza University of Rome (IT), University of Amsterdam (NL), Leipzig University (DE), University of Bologna (IT), University of Oulu (FI), KU Leuven (BE)
National Science Foundation, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Universidad de Sevilla, Jihočeská Univerzita v Českých Budějovicích, Università degli Studi di Milano, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Università degli Studi di Siena, Biodiversa+, European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Universiteit Leiden, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Austrian Science Fund, Universität Wien, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Akademie Věd České Republiky, Sapienza Università di Roma, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, Universitat de Barcelona, Università di Bologna, Oulun Yliopisto, Universidad de Oviedo, Universidad de Jaén, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Universität Ulm, Masarykova Univerzita, Universität Rostock, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Deutsches Zentrum für integrative Biodiversitätsforschung Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften, Division of Environmental Biology, Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
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Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
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