Experimental assessment of biotic and abiotic filters driving community composition.

Species occurrence in a site can be limited by both the abiotic environment and biotic interactions. These two factors operate in concert, but their relative importance is often unclear. By experimentally introducing seeds or plants into competition-free gaps or into the intact vegetation, we can disentangle the biotic and abiotic effects on plant establishment.

The legacy of initial sowing after 20 years of ex-arable land colonisation.

Priority effects provide an advantage to early establishing species and are thought to significantly affect the course of succession. We conducted a 20-year long experiment sowing high- and low-diversity mixtures in an ex-arable field. We ask how long the effect of sowing persists and which sown species affect the course of succession.

Ecosystem engineering by foxes is mediated by the landscape context-A case study from steppic burial mounds.

In intensively used landscapes, remnant grassland fragments are often restricted to places unsuitable for agricultural cultivation. Such refuges are the ancient burial mounds called "kurgans," which are typical landscape elements of the Eurasian steppe and forest steppe zone. Due to their hill-like shape, loose soil structure and undisturbed status kurgans provide proper habitats for burrowing mammals.