Applied Vegetation Science

Biodiversity theory proposes many benefits of higher species richness. Several have now been demonstrated experimentally, but few have been applied to real world problems. Oakley & Knox, in this issue, tested whether sowing more species in a vegetation restoration project would reduce the invasion of exotic species.

We investigated patterns of tree species composition in small cities across the continental United States. We found that urban tree communities (including their non-native components) were related to the surrounding biome even after controlling for minimum temperatures and anthropogenic factors. Despite substantial human influence, urban tree communities are connected to the same climatic factors that shape wildland plant communities.

The effect of planted species richness on invasion resistance was tested during grassland community establishment from bare subsoil. In less than 5 yrs, a seed mix of 24 functionally complementary native species developed into a community capable of maintaining a low abundance of external invasive species. Our methods were inexpensive and well suited to site restoration after heavy construction.

We examined restoration of a tropical dry lowland ecosystem in Hawaii dominated by an invasive grass. Ecological restoration was greatly enhanced through outplanting functionally diverse native species assemblages, coupled with pre- and post-planting chemical suppression of the invasive grass. Broadcast seeding was an ineffective restoration treatment in this ecosystem.

Spergulo-Corynephoretum vegetation was treated with N and P in a high and low N-deposition site. N-addition resulted in decrease of lichens and increase of grasses, whereas P had an opposite effect. The results suggests that cryptogams, not vascular plants, were P-limited even in the low N deposition site, and provide further evidence that lichens decrease due to N deposition.

Intensification of livestock production has led to the increasing input of herbicides. Glyphosate application in Flooding Pampa grasslands (Argentina) caused a dramatic shift in seed bank composition, increasing the seed densities of cool season annual grasses, decreasing all other functional groups and reducing richness and diversity. Our results raise awareness about the risks of widespread herbicide application for biodiversity conservation.

This study analyses the capacity for utilization of vegetation by the goats, utilizing non-destructive measures. Knowledge of the diet of the animals can help strike a balance between the development of extensive farming systems, with clear economic and social impact, and environmental conservation.

We studied plant species composition and structure of heavily and lightly grazed and long-term abandoned semi-natural island ecosystems, and found that goat grazing is indispensable for maintaining diverse traditional open agroecosystems; however, controlling grazing intensity can avoid negative effects on the vegetation (e.g., sharp reduction in shrub and palatable species) and abandoned areas are necessary to preserve endemic shrub species.

We estimated minimum fire return intervals in eastern coastal fynbos shrublands of the Cape Floral Kingdom from juvenile periods and post-fire recruitment success of serotinous, reseeding shrubs (Proteaceae family). Juvenile periods of 4–9 yr and post-fire recruitment being successful after fires in ≥7 yr-old vegetation imply a minimum fire return interval of ca. 9 yr in eastern coastal fynbos.

We identified plant functional groups (PFGs) representing various management types such as mowing and grazing in semi-natural grasslands. We extracted species classified into the representative PFGs from the list of potential indicators provided by INSPAN. Our results revealed that multi-traits PFG approach can provide reasonable plant indicators for monitoring grassland communities throughout the regions by combining with species-based INSPAN approach.

Ellenberg soil moisture indicator values have been used to predict soil hydrological conditions in the Bavarian Alps following the approach of predictive vegetation mapping. Additive georegression has been used as modeling approach. Indicator values offer an effect-oriented alternative to physically-based hydrological models to predict water related site conditions, even on landscape scale.

Separating sagebrush, a dominant yet declining shrubland across much of the western United States, by species and structural attributes improves the relationship between Landsat spectral values and ground-based measurements.

The study revealed that beech forests in Balkan Peninsula (South-eastern Europe) can be classified into two alliances and seven sub-alliances which were interpreted geographically and ecologically. The main cause for differentiation of beech forests into two various alliances are macroecological factors (macroclimatic), whereas local ecological factors (temperature and moisture as the most important) are reflected in the differentiation at sub-alliance level.

Socotra Island (Yemen) hosts an extraordinary heritage of endemic plant species that have originated from adaptive radiation processes or phyletic evolution from Paleo-African, African-mesic and mesic-tropical Asian taxa. The first comprehensive phytosociological analysis of the plant communities and vegetation zones of the Island and their relationships with environmental factors including geological features and altitudinal and climatic gradients is presented.