Contrasting species richness in patches of alternative foundation species suggests a framework for understanding Species of Unusual Effect

Questions:
Structurally dominant species can be especially influential in plant community assembly and ecosystem function as Species of Unusual Effect (SUEs). For example, native bunchgrasses function as foundation species and ecosystem engineers in the naturally high-diversity groundcover of longleaf pine savannas. Other species structurally dominate relatively small, discrete patches across the savanna landscape, e.g., the fern Pteridium aquilinum and the shrub Ilex glabra. Do patch-level species richness and composition of assemblages of groundcover plants and arthropods differ among alternative locally dominant species?
Location:
We conducted our study in a restored longleaf pine savanna in southeastern Louisiana.
Methods:
We compared the groundcover plant and arthropod assemblages within discrete patches structurally dominated by P. aquilinum or I. glabra to adjacent areas physically dominated by native bunchgrasses. We compared local plant species richness and compositio..., , , # Contrasting species richness in patches of alternative foundation species suggests a framework for understanding Species of Unusual Effect

R Scripts and data files to perform analyses and create figures for ‘Alternative foundation species differentially influence diversity of groundcover plant and arthropod assemblages among patches in a pine savanna in the southeastern U.S.A. ’ This study examines the effect of alternative foundation species on the diversity of non-foundation groundcover plant species and arthropods within a longleaf pine savanna in southeastern Louisiana.

Data files:

1. fern.diversity.csv
* This file contains species richness, stem density, and aboveground biomass (g) of non-foundation groundcover plants as well as litter biomass (g) from inside and outside of bracken fern patches. Note: Outside of bracken fern patches is within bunchgrass dominated areas.
2. fern.NMDS.csv
* This file contains a species-by-site matrix used in NMDS (nonmetric multidimensiona...,