Category: Plain language summary

Tree invasion in secondary grasslands diminishes herbaceous biomass and diversity: A study of mechanisms behind the process

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By Antonella Ferraina, Cecilia D. Molina, Noemí Mazía, Gervasio Piñeiro, Isabel Miranda & Enrique José Chaneton

Experimental design used to evaluate the effect of tree invasion and shading on grasslands. Photo credit: Antonella Ferraina

Woody-plant invasion in grasslands is a global problem widely reported during the last decade.…

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Fire-triggered flowering is the dominant post-fire strategy in a tropical savanna

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Heloiza L. Zirondi, Mark K. J. Ooi & Alessandra Fidelis

Lippia horridula, a forb species flowering within two weeks after the fire at the study site in Central Brazil. Photo credit: Heloiza L. Zirondi.

In many vegetation types across the globe where fire is present, plants have adaptations to the fire regime to survive and reproduce.…

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Frost-driven lower treelines in Angola and their implications for tropical forest–grassland mosaics

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Prepared by Manfred Finckh, Janika Wendefeuer & Paulina Meller

The transition of ecotone grasslands to grasslands at the confluence of the Río Cusseque and its western tributary, Río Sovi. Our network of temperature data loggers yielded the lowest temperatures in this area, where the nocturnal flows of cold air from both valley systems converged.
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A rapid method to quantify small-scale vegetation patch structure to complement conventional quadrat surveys

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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.…

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

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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.…

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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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