Category: Plain language summary

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

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

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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.
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Scale-dependent patterns and drivers of plant diversity in steppe grasslands of the Central Alborz Mts., Iran

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Prepared by Amir Talebi, Farideh Attar, Alireza Naqinezhad, Iwona Dembicz & Jürgen Dengler

A thorn-cushion community in the alpine zone of Mt. Damavand at 3400 m a.s.l., dominated by Onobrychis cornuta. Photo credit by Amir Talebi.

More than half of the Iranian plateau is covered by mountains, of which the highest point reaches more than 5000 m a.s.l.…

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Predictive mapping of plant diversity in an arid mountain environment (Gebel Elba, Egypt)

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Prepared by Maged M. Abutaha, Ahmed A. El-Khouly, Norbert Jürgens & Jens Oldeland

Evergreen vegetation (Olea woodland) at higher elevations of Gebel Elba, south-eastern Egypt. Left: Mahmoud Ali, right: Maged Abutaha. Photo credit: Maged Abutaha.

Gebel Elba, the core of the largest national park in Egypt (Gebel Elba National Park), is situated in the southeast corner of Egypt, nearly 15 km west of the Red Sea coast.…

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Together we stand, divided we fall: Effects of livestock grazing on vegetation patches in a desert community

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Prepared by Yamila Ivón Pelliza, Anahi Rocío Fernandez, Hugo Saiz & Mariana Tadey

Grazed area under study in Patagonian Monte Desert, Neuquén province, Patagonia, Argentina. Photo credit: Ivón Pelliza.

Dryland vegetation structure and ecosystem functioning are mainly driven by the interactions among plant species.…

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Alien plant invasion hotspots and invasion debt in European woodlands

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Prepared by Viktoria Wagner, Martin Večeřa, Borja Jiménez-Alfaro, Jan Pergl, Jonathan Lenoir, Jens-Christian Svenning, Petr Pyšek, Emiliano Agrillo, Idoia Biurrun, Juan Antonio Campos, Jörg Ewald, Federico Fernández-González, Ute Jandt, Valerijus Rašomavičius, Urban Šilc, Željko Škvorc, Kiril Vassilev, Thomas Wohlgemuth & Milan Chytrý

Trachycarpus fortunei invasion in a mesic temperate deciduous woodland with Tilia cordata, Fraxinus excelsior, Acer platanoides, Acer pseudoplatanus, Corylus avellana, and Robinia pseudoacacia in Switzerland.
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Floristic patterns of the neotropical forests, savannas and scrublands with Trithrinax campestris (Arecaceae) in central Argentina

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By Sebastián R. Zeballos, Marcelo R. Cabido, Juan J. Cantero, Alicia T.R. Acosta, M. Virginia Palchetti, Juan Argañaraz, Paula I. Marcora1, Paula A. Tecco, Ana Ferreras, Guillermo Funes, Victoria M. Vaieretti, Georgina Conti & Melisa A. Giorgis

Open palm (Trithrinax campestris) savanna with a shrubby understory dominated by the thorny Vachellia caven on rocky and sandy soils in western Córdoba Province, central Argentina.
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