Can natural forest expansion contribute to Europe's restoration policy agenda? An interdisciplinary assessment.

Natural forest expansion (NFE), that is, the establishment of secondary forest on non-forested land through natural succession, has substantially contributed to the widespread expansion of forests in Europe over the last few decades. So far, EU policies have largely neglected the potential of NFE for meeting policy objectives on restoration. Synthesising recent interdisciplinary research, this paper assesses the challenges and opportunities of NFE in view of contributing to European forest and ecosystem restoration.

Shifts in floristic composition and structure in Australian rangelands.

Monitoring shifts in vegetation composition over time is essential for tracking biodiversity changes and for designing ecosystem management strategies. In Australia, the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) provides a continent-wide network of monitoring sites (AusPlots) that can be used to assess the shifts in vegetation composition and structure of Australian Major Vegetation Groups (MVGs). Here we use time-series site data to quantify the extent and rate of MVG shifts between repeat visits and to recommend the most appropriate sampling frequency for specific MVGs.

Applying conservation reserve design strategies to define ecosystem monitoring priorities.

In an era of unprecedented ecological upheaval, monitoring ecosystem change at large spatial scales and over long-time frames is an essential endeavor of effective environmental management and conservation. However, economic limitations often preclude revisiting entire monitoring networks at high frequency. We aimed here to develop a prioritization strategy for monitoring networks to select a subset of existing sites that meets the principles of complementarity and representativeness of the whole ecological reality, and maximizes ecological complementarity (species accumulation) and the spatial and environmental representativeness.

Asymmetric flows and drivers of herbaceous plant invasion success among Mediterranean-climate regions.

Understanding the mechanisms that support the arrival, establishment and spread of species over an introduced range is crucial in invasion ecology. We analysed the unintentionally introduced herbaceous species that are naturalised in the five Mediterranean-climate regions. There is an asymmetry in the species flows among regions, being the Iberian Peninsula the main donor to the other regions.

Functional acclimation across microgeographic scales in .

Intraspecific plant functional trait variation provides mechanistic insight into persistence and can infer population adaptive capacity. However, most studies explore intraspecific trait variation in systems where geographic and environmental distances co-vary. Such a design reduces the certainty of trait-environment associations, and it is imperative for studies that make trait-environment associations be conducted in systems where environmental distance varies independently of geographic distance.

The invasiveness of Hypochaeris glabra (Asteraceae): Responses in morphological and reproductive traits for exotic populations.

Scientists have been interested in many topics driven by biological invasions, such as shifts in the area of distribution of plant species and rapid evolution. Invasiveness of exotic plant species depends on variations on morphological and reproductive traits potentially associated with reproductive fitness and dispersal ability, which are expected to undergo changes during the invasion process. Numerous Asteraceae are invasive and display dimorphic fruits, resulting in a bet-hedging dispersal strategy -wind-dispersed fruits versus animal-dispersed fruits-.

Weed abundance is positively correlated with native plant diversity in grasslands of southern Australia.

Weeds are commonly considered a threat to biodiversity, yet interactions between native and exotic species in grasslands are poorly understood and reported results vary depending on the spatial scale of study, the factors controlled for and the response variables analysed. We tested whether weed presence and abundance is related to declines in biodiversity in Australian grasslands. We employed existing field data from 241 plots along a disturbance gradient and correlated species richness, cover and Shannon diversity for natives and exotics, controlling for seasonal rainfall, climatic gradients and nutrient status.

Ecotypic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity combine to enhance the invasiveness of the most widespread daisy in Chile, Leontodon saxatilis.

Dispersal and reproductive traits of successful plant invaders are expected to undergo strong selection during biological invasions. Numerous Asteraceae are invasive and display dimorphic fruits within a single flower head, resulting in differential dispersal pathways - wind-dispersed fruits vs. non-dispersing fruits.