Category: Plain language summary

A comparison of phylogenetic and species beta diversity measures describing vegetation assemblages along an elevation gradient

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Prepared by Tammy L. Elliott & T. Jonathan Davies

An alder thicket plant community on Mount Irony, Labrador, Canada. The alder thicket plant community transitions into a boreal forest community at lower elevations. Photo credit: Tammy Elliott.

Plant ecologists have long been interested in describing and delineating plant communities.…

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Detectability of species of Carex varies with abundance, morphology, and site complexity

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Prepared by Jacqueline M. Dennett and Scott E. Nielsen

Carex gynocrates (bog sedge) is a short species with few, thin leaves and a small inflorescence. Sedges with this appearance were the most poorly detected group in our study, whereas tall sedges with wide leaves and a large inflorescence were almost never overlooked.
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Patterns of long-term vegetation change vary between different types of semi-natural grasslands in Western and Central Europe

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Prepared by Martin Diekmann, Christian Andres, Thomas Becker, Jonathan Bennie, Volker Blüml, James M. Bullock, Heike Culmsee, Miriam Fanigliulo, Annett Hahn, Thilo Heinken, Christoph Leuschner, Stefanie Luka, Justus Meißner, Josef Müller, Adrian Newton, Cord Peppler-Lisbach, Gert Rosenthal, Leon J.L. van den Berg, Philippine Vergeer & Karsten Wesche

Common in the past – a semi-natural wet grassland with the now rare and threatened species Senecio aquaticus.
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Controlling the invader Urochloa decumbens: subsidies for ecological restoration in subtropical Campos grassland

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Prepared by Pedro Augusto Thomas, Jéssica Schüler, Lidiane da Rosa Boavista, Fábio Piccin Torchelsen, Gerhard Ernst Overbeck & Sandra Cristina Müller

Experimental plot after the application of herbicide and topsoil removal. In the background of the photo, behind the plot, and in the foreground experimental plots, we can see Urochloa decumbens.
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Effects of initial functional-group composition on assembly trajectory in savanna restoration

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Prepared by André G. Coutinho, Monique Alves, Alexandre B. Sampaio, Isabel B. Schmidt & Daniel L. M. Vieira

Results of active restoration in Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, Goiás, Brazil (14°7’2.54″ S 47°38’30.36″ W). The area on the left side (A) was restored by direct seeding, leading to a vegetation structure more similar to a native Cerrado.
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Drivers of species richness and community integrity of small forest patches in an agricultural landscape

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Prepared by Krista Takkis, Tiiu Kull, Tiit Hallikma, Piia Jaksi, Karin Kaljund, Karin Kauer, Thea Kull, Olavi Kurina, Mart Külvik, Kaire Lanno, Malle Leht, Jaan Liira, Indrek Melts, Hannes Pehlak, Janar Raet, Kaarel Sammet, Kalev Sepp, Ülo Väli & Lauri Laanisto

Studied forest patches within the agricultural landscape in northeast Estonia.
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Increased rainfall and nitrogen alter colonization and extinction during postgrazing steppe succession

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Prepared by Hong-Wei Yu & Wei-Ming He

Photos of the field experiment, northeastern Inner Mongolia, China: (a) Rainfall collectors and irrigation pipes at the beginning of the experiment, and (b) watered and fertilized experimental plots. Photo credit: Wei-Ming He.

Steppes are among the most important grassland types, and a high proportion of steppes have suffered from overgrazing.…

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Which results of the standard test for community weighted mean approach are too optimistic?

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Prepared by David Zelený

The relationship between the average height of understory herbs (CWM of species height) and the amount of light passing through the forest canopy (quantified by visually estimated cover of trees and shrubs at each site). If the analysis based on CWM approach was done by a standard parametric test, the result is highly significant (P<0.001). However, the result of the standard test is overly optimistic; the max test, which is the correct test for this analysis, returns considerably less exciting P-value (P=0.052).

Imagine a forest, with trees forming a canopy and herbs growing in the understory.…

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Slow recovery of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant community after fungicide application: An eight-year experiment

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Prepared by Hana Pánková, Tomáš Dostálek, Kristýna Vazačová & Zuzana Münzbergová

Study site – dry grassland in the central part of the Czech Republic. Photo credit: Hana Pánková.

Dry grasslands represent one of the most species-rich communities in Europe with a high occurrence of rare species.…

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