Drivers of species richness and community integrity of small forest patches in an agricultural landscape

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

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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Book review: Metacommunity Ecology by Leibold & Chase (2018) – linking biogeography with community ecology

The post provided by Borja Jiménez-Alfaro

Travelling with the family may also be a good time to read this book. Here in the Camargue Biosphere Reserve (France), a biogeographical hub for ecological communities in Europe. Photo credit: Borja Jiménez-Alfaro

In the last years, I have been looking at different views for understanding the spatial patterns of plant communities.…

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Planned Special Feature of JVS: Dispersal and establishment as drivers of vegetation dynamics and resilience

Guest editors: Péter Török, James Bullock, Borja Jiménez-Alfaro, Judit Sonkoly

Background
Plant regeneration plays a decisive role in vegetation dynamics by underpinning local and landscape-scale processes, biodiversity patterns, and community resilience to abiotic and anthropogenic disturbances. As establishment and recruitment depend greatly on spatial plant dispersal and the local propagule bank, studying their contributions to these processes is crucial.…

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

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 the CWM approach was done by a standard parametric test, the result is highly significant (P<0.001).
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