Key concepts and a world-wide look at plant recruitment networks.

Plant-plant interactions are major determinants of the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems. There is a long tradition in the study of these interactions, their mechanisms and their consequences using experimental, observational and theoretical approaches. Empirical studies overwhelmingly focus at the level of species pairs or small sets of species.

RecruitNet: A global database of plant recruitment networks.

Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., what recruits under what) shape the composition, diversity, and structure of plant communities.

Quantifying the effects of Robinia pseudoacacia afforestation on plant community structure from a functional perspective: New prospects for management practices on the hilly and gullied Loess Plateau, China.

Robinia pseudoacacia is regarded as a valuable but problematic plant due to its positive and negative environmental effects. A comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of the effects of R. pseudoacacia afforestation on ecosystems and striking a balance between ecosystem safety and functioning and R.

Increasing aridity threatens the sexual regeneration of Quercus ilex(holm oak) in Mediterranean ecosystems.

Knowledge of the recruitment of dominant forest species is a key aspect for forest conservation and the ecosystem services they provide. In this paper, we address how the simultaneous action of climate change and the intensity of land use in the past influence the recruitment of a forest species that depends on the provision of nurse plants to recruit. We compared the number of saplings (up to 15 years old) and juveniles (16 to 50 years old) of Quercus ilex in 17, 5.

Functional and evolutionary correlations of steep leaf angles in the mexical shrubland.

In the evergreen shrubland vegetation of Mexico (mexical), most of the species are sclerophyllous woody plants with steep leaf angles. This architectural pattern has been interpreted as a strategy to cope with water shortages and high radiation. However, the current association between evergreenness and steep leaf angles across mexical plant species could be the result of an adaptive association achieved through correlated evolutionary change between both traits or, alternatively, may be the result of common evolutionary ancestry.