Applied Vegetation Science

We compared long-term data (1976-2006) on agricultural and conservation grasslands (the Netherlands). While species richness still increased in conservation grasslands, no changes could be detected in agricultural grasslands after a past decrease. The floristic 'gap' between agricultural and conservation grasslands is still widening. Nature reserves become more and more important for the survival of plant species at the landscape level.

Fencing effectiveness for woodland conservation can be controversial. Fencing against cattle affected seedling emergence and survival, and consequently the stage structure of P. flexuosa woodlands. Fenced sites were dominated by adult trees, whereas grazed areas were dominated by seedlings and saplings. This study suggests that cattle are agents of seed dispersal of P. flexuosa, able to trigger its natural regeneration.

We studied herb layer species composition, foliar nutrient concentrations and soil nutrient pools in nine oak forests. The herb layer species diversity and composition was significantly related to foliar N concentration, foliar δ¹⁵N signatures and soil N pool, respectively. These parameters may reliably indicate not only the N availability, but also predict consequences for the herb layer vegetation composition.

Horticultural trade is an important pathway for un-intentional introductions of non-native plants in natural habitats. We showed that illegal garden waste dumping is a source for the establishment of non-native plant species in semi-natural deciduous forests in Switzerland. Furthermore, the dumping sites showed changes in soil characteristics.

This work reports results from a reforestation experiment testing the potential for plant chemistry and polycultures including well defended species to limit herbivory. Early herbivory reduced growth even after five years. The fastest growing species grew better in polyculture. Saponin defenses appeared to deter leaf-cutter ants. Overall, mixtures of fast-growing and well defended species may limit herbivory and enhance growth.

The anthropogenic disturbances that altered vegetation distribution resulted in differences in seed bank spatial structure. This was most evident in scrub forbs which lacked a strong structural component in the degraded community but were aggregated and positively associate with above-ground microhabitats in the reference community. Amount of shrub cover may be influencing the association between the seed bank and vegetation.

One-third of species recorded from a grazed temperate fen germinated from Konik dung samples. Seeds of germinants were significantly lighter, longer-lived, could tolerate higher nutrient levels and were produced in greater numbers than seeds of non-dispersed species. This was the first study to investigate endozoochorous dispersal of fen vegetation, and demonstrated the potential for endozoochory to complement alternative dispersal strategies.

In peatland restoration or within the natural regeneration process of a peat extracted site, the typical alternation of hummocks and hollows returns more rapidly than typical species composition of each microstructure. All species able to tolerate the conditions prevailing on cutover peatland post-restoration or post-abandonment can contribute to the initiation microtopography, but could form atypical assemblages. Restoration steps and site conditions clearly have an influence.”

We applied a high-resolution remote-sensing system based on a lightweight (1.6 kg) radio-controlled helicopter (the “Falcon-PARS system”) to wetland vegetation. We obtained images with a spatial resolution of 1 cm and confirmed that we could identify major two herbaceous species from the images. Such a high-resolution remote-sensing system can be used as a non-destructive alternative to ground surveys.

This study provides a quantitative assessment of plant richness in Catalonia using standards of the nascent field of species distribution modeling for a total of 2738 species. Several components of the present manuscript could be helpful to others using the same techniques, including the relative evaluations of Kappa and TSS vs. the two components of disagreement, and use of COR in order to determine which of the techniques is most successful.

For the first time, we provide a formal phytosociological classification of a section of the floristically highly diverse winter-rainfall desert Succulent Karoo in South Africa. The main floristic gradient was between the zonal vegetation of marginally saline soils (Hermannio trifurcae-Zygophylletea morgsanae cl. nov.) and the vegetation of highly saline soils, including areas of fossile termitaria (Didelto carnosae-Cephalophylletea inaequalis cl. nov.).

By spatially constrained clustering the study detects boundaries of vegetation belts in the inland of West Greenland at 400/450, 800/900 and 1175/1250 m a.s.l. These belts are characterised by 99 indicator species, plant functional types and plant distribution types. Numerous options for climate change monitoring are found in vegetation characteristics at the boundaries of these belts.