Invitation to contribute to a Special Feature on “Palaearctic grasslands: global change, conservation, management and restoration” in Applied Vegetation Science
Prepared by Jürgen Dengler (Chair of the Guest Editors)
In conjunction with the Eurasian Grassland Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, in July 2026, the IAVS Working Group EDGG (https://edgg.org/) is organising a Special Feature on global change and applied topics in grasslands throughout the Palaearctic biogeographic realm in the journal Applied Vegetation Science (AVS). The guest editors consist of an international team of grassland experts appointed by EDGG: Jürgen Dengler (CH), Rocco Labadessa (IT), Remigiusz Pielech (PL), Elisabeth Prangel (EE/DE) and Orsolya Valkó (HU).
Palaearctic grasslands are partly natural, partly semi-natural, deriving from millennia of low-intensity land use. They have developed into a diverse group of habitats, some of which host the global maxima of vascular plant species richness at small scales. Due to strong anthropogenic pressures, like land use intensification and abandonment, conversion to other land uses, eutrophication, fragmentation, climate change or biotic invasions, many of the grassland habitats of the biogeographic realm are nowadays threatened.
New databases and new analytical methods in the past few years have led to many new insights into the trajectories of Central and Western European grasslands under global change, but far less is known from other regions of the Palaearctic biogeographic realm. Moreover, even in the best-studied countries, we do not have a consistent picture for many of the less-studied grassland types. Generally, quantitative attribution of diversity and composition changes to certain drivers has hardly been attempted and achieved. Since many grassland types in Europe are threatened, there have been quite numerous studies on conservation, management and restoration, but often geographically and temporally limited, or more qualitative than quantitative, limiting their transferability. Again, the knowledge state in Palaearctic regions other than temperate Europe is limited.
For this Special Feature, we thus seek contributions that quantify the changes in diversity and composition of the different types of Palaearctic grasslands that are currently undergoing and attribute them to the various potential drivers. At the same time, we would like to see papers that develop and/or test different methods of management, restoration and conservation, such as grazing, mowing, controlled burning, re-seeding or trophic rewilding. While some grassland types in Central and Western Europe have already in the past received some focus in the scientific literature, we would like to particularly encourage contributions on grassland types and from regions where the knowledge is less developed, such as West, Central and East Asia, but also the Mediterranean region and Eastern Europe.
Main topics:
- Global change in Palaearctic grasslands
- Resurvey studies in Palaearctic grasslands
- Quantification of threats to Palaearctic grassland vegetation
- Conservation assessment of Palaearctic grasslands
- Management of Palaearctic grasslands (e.g., grazing, mowing, burning, trophic rewilding)
- Restoration of Palaearctic grasslands (e.g., by seed mixtures, hay transfer, top-soil removal, rewetting)
Procedure and deadlines:
- Interested authors should submit a preliminary abstract in the format of AVS at https://forms.gle/jVX2JqsZfUzqvvyQ8 by either 30 June 2026 or 30 September 2026
- The Guest Editors will evaluate the proposed abstracts after the two deadlines, which, after approval by the Chief Editors, will inform authors whether their contributions are invited, conditionally invited, or declined. Only invited contributions can be submitted.
- Invited manuscripts should be submitted by 31 March 2027 via the journal platform.
- The manuscripts will undergo regular peer review, with one of the Guest Editors serving as the handling editor, and acceptance will depend on the peer review results.
- Accepted papers will be published without delay, not waiting for the last paper of the Special Feature.
- Once the last paper of the AVS Special Issue is accepted, the Guest Editors will write a synthesising editorial.
Contact for questions: Chair of the Guest Editors Jürgen Dengler (dr.juergen.dengler@gmail.com)
List of guest editors:
Jürgen Dengler (dr.juergen.dengler@gmail.com)
Rocco Labadessa (rocco.labadessa@cnr.it)
Remigius Pielech (remekpielech@gmail.com)
