Why study succession? It is permanently challenging, especially now under global change

The post provided by Karel Prach, with a contribution by Tomáš Herben

Two-year-old abandoned field with dominant Papaver rhoeas, and other weedy archeophytes. Photo credit: K. Prach

This post refers to the article Species occurrence in successional series as field-based indicators of their disturbance niche by Tomáš Herben and Karel Prach, published in the Journal of Vegetation Science (https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.70104…

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From field trip to first paper: the colorful arable fields of Lemnos, Greece

The post provided by Lina Rinne

Left: Stefan Meyer and Erwin Bergmeier discussing arable plant species on a windy day on Lesvos, April 2025 (photo credit: Lina Rinne). Right: Lina Rinne photographing arable plants on Lemnos, May 2025 (photo credit: Ute Bergmeier)

This post refers to the article Soil and season shape less intensively managed agro-ecosystems of a Mediterranean island—Insights from Lemnos (Greece) by Lina Rinne, Stefan Meyer, and Erwin Bergmeier, published in Vegetation Classification and Survey (https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.164437…

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Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS): Editors’ Choice of the fourth quarter of 2025

Prepared by Jürgen Dengler (on behalf of VCS Chief Editor)

Extensively used arable field with a rich weed flora, including Agrostemma githago, on the island of Lemnos, Greece. Source: Rinne et al. (2025).

In the fourth quarter of its 6th volume, Vegetation Classification and Survey(VCS) has published seven articles (see list below).…

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Palaearctic Grasslands 65 is published

The post provided by Idoia Biurrun (Deputy Chief Editor of Palaearctic Grasslands)

The new issue of Palaearctic Grasslands is out, and you can read the complete issue here.

This new issue includes the results of the elections for the EDGG Executive Committee and a report on our activities from September 2024 to October 2025, as well as announcements on the Eurasian Grassland Conference and Field Workshop to be held in 2026.…

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A comparative study of lichen and bryophyte communities on sandstone and ultramafic bedrocks along a maritime gradient in central California

Prepared by Michael Mulroy and Nishanta Rajakaruna

Left: quadrat from a coastal sandstone rock outcrop in San Luis Obispo County. We found 14 lichen species, including the yellow cobblestone lichen, Acarospora socialis. Right: the rock nipple lichen, Thelomma mammosum, grows among mosses and other lichens on a coastal serpentinite outcrop in San Luis Obispo County.
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Road Disturbance Shapes the Functional Composition of Native Plant Species but Not That of Non-Natives in the Arid Andes

Prepared by María Alisa Alvarez, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Valeria Aschero, Lorena de Jesús Bonjour & Agustina Barros

Members of the PIBAS-CONICET team (Plants, Invasions, and Biodiversity of the Andes) collecting plant leaves at the highest elevation points surveyed for this project in Cordón del Plata Provincial Park.
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