Category: Plain language summary

Functional traits and propagule pressure explain changes in the distribution and demography of non-native trees in Spain

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By Carlos Lara-Romero, Paloma Ruiz-Benito & Pilar Castro-Díez

Old plantation of Australian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) in Cíes Island (National Park of the Atlantic Islands, Galicia, Spain). Photo credit: Pilar Castro-Díez.

Non-native tree species (NNT) have been planted worldwide to provide different types of benefits, from resources, such as wood, tannins, or fiber, to ornamental assets.…

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Coping with changing plant-plant interactions in restoration ecology: Effect of species, site, and individual variation

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Prepared by Pedro J. Garrote, Antonio R. Castilla & Jose M. Fedriani

The Mediterranean dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis) spreads along the typical landscape of study sites in Doñana National Park (south-western Spain). (Photo credit: Pedro J. Garrote)

Most ecological interactions can usually be positive, negative, or neutral, depending on the balance between benefits and costs for their participants.…

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Secondary succession on landslides in submontane forests of central Taiwan: Environmental drivers and restoration strategies

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By Chien-Fan Chen, Ching-Feng Li, Chu-Mei Huang, Huan-Yu Lin & David Zelený

Sampling of spontaneously recovered vegetation after landslide disturbance in Central Taiwan, East Asia. A 20 m × 20 m plot was set up within the landslide area to investigate the species composition and environmental variables.
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Spatial patterns in neighbourhood effects on woody plant selection and bark stripping by deer in a lowland alluvial forest

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Prepared by Jan Holík & David Janík

A pond inside the Ranšpurk forest reserve, Czech Republic. The reserve is a unique remnant of old-growth forests in this region with management practices excluded in 1949. Because of the site location within a deer enclosure, a fence was erected in 1992 to protect it against deer herbivory.
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Fine-grain beta diversity in Palaearctic open vegetation: variability within and between biomes and vegetation types

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By Iwona Dembicz, Jürgen Dengler, François Gillet, Thomas J. Matthews, Manuel J. Steinbauer, Sándor Bartha, Juan Antonio Campos, Pieter De Frenne, Jiri Dolezal, Itziar Garcia-Mijangos, Riccardo Guarino, Behlül Güler, Anna Kuzemko, Alireza Naqinezhad, Jalil Noroozi, Robert K. Peet, Massimo Terzi & Idoia Biurrun

Sampling of a standard “EDGG Biodiversity Plots” in a meso-xeric pasture in Armenia, which was used in this study to derive fine-grain beta-diversity data.
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Testing collection-time reduction in fine-root biomass estimation in Atlantic Forests

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Prepared by Cinthia Silva, Vinícius Londe, André D’Angioli, Bruno Bordron, Carlos Joly & Simone Vieira

Example of fieldwork using the temporal prediction method in the montane Atlantic Forest. Photo credit: Cinthia Silva.

Studying the ecosystem’s functioning below the ground surface is not an easy task.…

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Occurrence of Australian woody species is driven by soil moisture and available phosphorus across a climatic gradient

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Prepared by Jingyi Ding, Samantha K. Travers & David J. Eldridge

Recording woody species at a site along a 100m transect in a Callitris spp. open woodland in eastern Australia. Photo credit: Jingyi Ding

When you are walking in the bush or hiking in a forest in Australia, you can find a diverse range of woody plants, with some species more often growing in dense forests but other species only occurring on open woodlands.…

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Extreme drought has limited effects on soil seed bank composition in desert grasslands

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Prepared by Alejandro Loydi & Scott Collins

General view of the (a) Chihuahuan Desert grassland and (b) Great Plains grassland experimental sites. Photo credit: Alejandro Loydi.

Climate change will impact all ecosystems across the globe, with particularly strong effects on mean annual temperature and rainfall.…

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Multiple soil factors explain eutrophication signals in the understory vegetation of temperate forests

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Prepared by Marina Roth, Hans-Gerhard Michiels, Heike Puhlmann, Carina Sucker & Markus Hauck

Vegetation field survey in a typical low-productive oak forest on acidic soil without signs of eutrophication. The photograph shows one of the study sites located in the Black Forest, southwest Germany.
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