Table 1 Interpretation of environmental factors derived from bioindication of climate and soil conditions used in this study

Temperature^27,28

Bioclimatic temperature, highly correlated with mean annual temperature and mean temperature of the warmest quarter²⁷

Light^27,28

Local light conditions affected by canopy cover or shading²⁶

Moisture^27,28

Local moisture conditions related to vapour pressure deficit⁸⁵, soil moisture content and tension^26,86

Nutrients^27,28

Overall fertility for biomass production, reflecting different plant-available nutrients, only weakly correlated with nitrogen mineralization and available mineral nitrogen^26,86

Salinity²⁸

Abundance of salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate, calcium sulfate or sodium carbonate

Reaction^27,28

Soil’s acidity or alkalinity for example due to variations in calcium⁸⁶, linearly or curvilinearly related to soil pH²⁶

Disturbance²⁹

Amount of bare ground cover caused by furrowing or soil turning²⁹