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Functional diversity of flowers in alpine plant communities
Plachtová, Kateřina ; Sklenář, Petr (advisor) ; Koupilová, Klára (referee)
Alpine environment differs from other biomes with its special abiotic conditions, which may influence local plant communities. Species composition of plant communities' changes along the altitudinal gradient. So do its vegetative and generative functional traits, as well as abundance and species composition of their pollinators. This thesis mainly examines floral functional traits (morphology, color and chemical traits of flowers) and their diversity along altitudinal gradient. It attempts to find general trends that characterize altitudinal changes of these traits. Most crucial drivers are pollinators and abiotic factors of environment. Functional traits of alpine plants change in response to variation in abundance and species composition of pollinators. Since dominant pollinators in the alpine environment are Diptera, floral functional traits of local plant communities are adjusted according to their preference. However, floral functional traits are also depending on abiotic factors, which can have an opposite effect compared to biotic factors. Considering the complexity of alpine plant communities and also the complexity of the drivers, which influence them, it's extremely difficult to find unambiguous patterns to describe these changes. Nevertheless, some trends in the altitudinal changes of...
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