Author: David Zeleny

Linking functional diversity, trait composition, invasion, and environmental drivers in boreal wetland plant assemblages

Posted on October 13, 2021October 13, 2021 by David Zeleny

Brandon Allen and his colleagues summarized the results from a recent paper in the Journal of Vegetation Science (https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.13073) illustrating the complex relationships between functional diversity, terrestrial invaders, and the surrounding environment in boreal wetlands. Read more about these relationships at the ABMI blog.…

A rapid method to quantify small-scale vegetation patch structure to complement conventional quadrat surveys

Posted on October 6, 2021October 6, 2021 by David Zeleny

Prepared by Liam Butler & Roy Sanderson

View across Redesdale in North East England, UK. Photo credit: Liam Butler.

The standard vegetation quadrat is probably the most common method to survey plant communities, and thousands of scientific papers have been published in which some field data was collected via quadrats.…

Palaearctic Grasslands 50 is published

Posted on September 2, 2021October 2, 2021 by David Zeleny

The post provided by Idoia Biurrun (Chief Editor of Palaearctic Grasslands)

The new issue of Palaearctic Grasslands, EDGG’s scientific journal and magazine is out, and you can read the complete issue here. It contains 38 pages full of nice photos, many of them included in appealing photo stories and glimpses of grasslands.…

Beyond species richness and community composition: using plant functional diversity to measure restoration success in jarrah forest

Posted on August 22, 2021August 22, 2021 by David Zeleny

Prepared by Rachel Standish, Aaron Gove, Andrew Grigg and Matthew Daws

Restoration ecologists on a newly restored mine site in the jarrah forest bioregion. Reference jarrah forest in the background. Photo credit: Richard J. Hobbs.

Ecological restoration has matured as a science and a practice since its inception in the 1980s.…

Traditional cattle grazing can maintain functional diversity of oriental beech forests

Posted on August 7, 2021August 7, 2021 by David Zeleny

The post provided by Zahed Shakeri, Daniel Simberloff, Markus Bernhardt-Römermann and Rolf Lutz Eckstein

Cows resting in a summer camp at an altitude of about 2300 meters in Talish, Iran. Photo credit: Mohammad Aminpour.

This post refers to the article The impact of livestock grazing and canopy gaps on species pool and functional diversity of ground flora in the Caspian beech forests of Iran by Shakeri et al.,…

Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS) in the second quarter of 2021

Posted on August 5, 2021October 15, 2021 by David Zeleny

By Jürgen Dengler (on behalf of all VCS Chief Editors)

Vegetation in four different biomes. Photo credit: Jürgen Dengler.

Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS) has published six contributions in the second quarter of 2021.

Our Editors’ Choice Paper is by Hunter et al.…

GrassPlot marathon: the long way towards the first benchmarks of plant species richness of Palaearctic grasslands

Posted on August 4, 2021October 15, 2021 by David Zeleny

The post provided by Idoia Biurrun, Iwona Dembicz, Jürgen Dengler and Remigiusz Pielech

Nested-plot sampling in an alpine grassland (*Elyno-Seslerietea*) in Grisons (Switzerland) (Photo credit: Jürgen Dengler)

This post refers to the article Benchmarking plant diversity of Palaearctic grasslands and other open habitats by Biurrun et al.…

Enjoying tranquility – Development of ground vegetation after cessation of management in forests on loamy soils in Flanders (Belgium)

Posted on July 13, 2021August 4, 2021 by David Zeleny

Prepared by Kris Vandekerkhove, Arno Thomaes, Luc De Keersmaeker, Peter Van de Kerckhove, Thierry Onkelinx, Hans Van Calster & Kris Verheyen

A view on one of the investigated set-asides: an old mixed oak forest in Meerdaalwoud (close to Leuven, Belgium). Notice the dense layer of spring flowers.

New insights into small-scale species-area relationships and beta diversity due to the GrassPlot database

Posted on July 7, 2021July 7, 2021 by David Zeleny

The post provided by Jürgen Dengler, Iwona Dembicz, Jinghui Zhang & Idoia Biurrun

Sampling of a nested plot in a meso-xeric grassland in Northern Spain (Photo credit: Juan Antonio Campos).

This post refers to the articles “Fine-grain beta diversity of Palaearctic grassland vegetation” by Dembicz et al.…

Plant quality and primary productivity modulate plant biomass responses to the joint effects of grazing and fertilization in a mesic grassland

Posted on June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 by David Zeleny

Prepared by Sofía Campana & Laura Yahdjian

(a) Experimental exclosures used in the study site (Flooding Pampa, Argentina) to evaluate the effect of domestic grazing. Plant biomass accumulates inside the exclosure (left) in comparison with the grazed grassland (right). (b) Mobile cage used to estimate cattle consumption and aboveground net primary productivity in the grazed grassland.