Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS): Editors’ Choice of the fourth quarter of 2025

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Prepared by Jürgen Dengler (on behalf of VCS Chief Editor)

Extensively used arable field with a rich weed flora, including Agrostemma githago, on the island of Lemnos, Greece. Source: Rinne et al. (2025).

In the fourth quarter of its 6th volume, Vegetation Classification and Survey(VCS) has published seven articles (see list below). Among these, the Chief Editors selected the contribution by Rinne et al. (2025) as the Editors’ Choice article.

In their Research Paper, Lina Rinne and colleagues (Germany) present a detailed overview of the plant communities of arable fields and fallows on the Greek island of Lemnos. The contribution is part of the Special Collection ‘Vegetation classification of islands and archipelagos’. Through herbicide application, strong fertilisation, and other intensification measures, arable weed communities throughout large parts of Europe have become species poor and homogenous, and many of the formerly widespread arable weeds are now threatened. In some places of the Mediterranean, like the island of Lemnos, extensive management of arable fields is still frequent. The authors sampled 174 100-m2 plots in arable fields with different crops as well as in young fallows. They found a very rich vascular plant flora with a total of 357 taxa, with up to 62 species in a single plot, including many obligatory agrestal species. There was a strong differentiation between spring and fall communities, the latter being significantly poorer in species and more homogeneous. By contrast, the spring communities were rich in species (mean: 26.6 per plot) and could be separated into four floristically well-characterised communities. Due to their full coverage of Mediterranean Europe, mean Ecological Indicator Values for Europe (EIVE; Dengler et al. 2023) allowed the authors to visualise the different site conditions of the five distinguished community types. The study highlights that despite the extensive phytosociological knowledge in Europe and the synthesis of the higher vegetation types of the continent (by Mucina et al. 2016), there are still open questions, as the placement of the five agrestal communities from Lemnos in the European classification system was not unequivocal. The study stands out by a comprehensive documentation of a vegetation type that has become rare across the continent (arable fields with rich weed community), state-of-the-art analysis, attractive and informative presentation of the results via synoptic tables and photo plates as well as full documentation of the data and the underlying R code in the supplementary materials.

  • Dengler, J., Jansen, F., Chusova, O., Hüllbusch, E., Nobis, M.P., Van Meerbeek, K., Axmanová, I., Bruun, H.H., Chytrý, M., (…) & Gillet, F. (2023) Ecological Indicator Values for Europe (EIVE) 1.0. Vegetation Classification and Survey 4: 7–29. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.98324
  • Mucina, L., Bültmann, H., Dierßen, K., Theurillat, J.-P., Raus, T., Čarni, A., Šumberová, K., Willner, W., Dengler, J., (…) & Tichý, L. (2016) Vegetation of Europe: Hierarchical floristic classification system of vascular plant, bryophyte, lichen, and algal communities. Applied Vegetation Science 19, Supplement 1: 3−264. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12257

All articles of Volume 6, 4th quarter

  • Landucci, F., Chytrý, M., Iemelianova, S., Šumberová, K. & Theurillat, J.-P. (2025) Nomenclatural revision, proposals (40–44) and requests (8–10) regarding some syntaxa of the class Phragmito-Magnocaricetea Klika in Klika et Novák 1941. Vegetation Classification and Survey 6: 209−220. http://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.146260
  • Khodosovtsev, O.Y., Vondrák, J. & Kuzemko, A.A. (2025) Epiphytic lichen communities in old-growth beech forests of western Ukraine. Vegetation Classification and Survey 6: 221–246. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.149158
  • Dengler, J. & Dembicz, I. (2025) Proposals (45–47) to conserve the name Diantho deltoidis-Armerietum elongatae Krausch ex Pötsch 1962 as a nomen conservandum and to reject two nomina dubia in the class Koelerio-Corynephoretea. Vegetation Classification and Survey 6: 247−252. http://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.177197
  • Rinne, L, Meyer, S. & Bergmeier, E. (2025) Soil and season shape less intensively managed agro-ecosystems of a Mediterranean island—Insights from Lemnos (Greece). Vegetation Classification and Survey 6: 253–271. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.164437
  • Willner, W., Čarni, A., Fernández-González, F., Landucci, F., Pallas, J., Terzi, M. & Theurillat, J.-P. (2025) Report 4 of the Committee for Change and Conservation of Names (CCCN). Vegetation Classification and Survey 6: 273–278. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.180609
  • Goodson, C., Holloway, J., Bartholomew, Z.H., Axel, A.C., Puppo, P., Debowsky, P. & Palmquist, K.A. (2025) Characterizing and mapping coastal vegetation on a sea island in the southeastern USA. Vegetation Classification and Survey 6: 279–299. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.157787
  • Guarino, R., Becker, T., Dembicz, I., Dolnik, C., Kozub, Ł. & Dengler, J. (2025) Dry grasslands of Sicily: Multi-taxon diversity and classification challenges. Vegetation Classification and Survey 6: 301−328. http://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.175402