Applied Vegetation Science

The recipient of the 2012 Applied Vegetation Science Editors' Award is Laura Armengot for the paper 'The β-diversity of arable weed communities on organic and conventional cereal farms in two contrasting regions'.

The species diversity of weed vegetation on European arable land has declined dramatically over the last few decades. Diversity comparisons between organic and conventional farms have traditionally focused on local species richness, but the Göttingen University's Agroecology group, in which Laura Armengot did her study, recently emphasized the importance of beta-diversity in their research on German arable land. Armengot et al. (2012) extended these studies to the Mediterranean region and compared the results with patterns existing in the temperate zone. It is a signal for environmental policy-making that for effective conservation of endangered weeds, the focus on organic farming should be extended from the currently dominating field- or farm-scale to landscape scale. Read the Editorial to find out more. Or watch the video:

Read the full list of recipients since 2001 here.

Top Downloaded Papers from Applied Vegetation Science during 2012

Species introduction – a major topic in vegetation restoration
Norbert Hölzel, Elise Buisson, Thierry Dutoit

Vegetation survey: a new focus for Applied Vegetation Science
Milan Chytrý, Joop H. J. Schaminée, Angelika Schwabe

Restoration of native vegetation following exclosure establishment on communal grazing lands in Tigray, Ethiopia
Wolde Mekuria, Edzo Veldkamp

Editors’ Award, vegetation survey, remote sensing and restoration
J. Bastow Wilson, Alessandro Chiarucci, Milan Chytrý, Meelis Pärtel

Ever since Clements: from succession to vegetation dynamics and understanding to intervention
S.T.A. Pickett, M.L. Cadenasso, S.J. Meiners

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