Floristic and vegetation analysis in seven Mediterranean landslides led to the understanding of the successional processes occurring in different landslide disturbed sectors. Our study showed that in landslides that occurred between 1996 and 2010 there is a clear differentiation between the three main landslide sectors (scarp, main body and foot) concerning floristic composition, vegetation structure, floristic richness, successional processes and plant functional type. Additional differences were found between landslide areas and undisturbed agricultural areas adjacent to landslides. In this study 48 floristic relevés were made using a stratified random sampling design. The main landslide body exhibits the highest floristic richness whereas the landslide scarp has the lowest coverage rate and the highest presence of characteristic species from ruderal and strongly perturbed habitats. Finally, the landslide foot shows a late stage in the succession (maquis or pre-forest stage) with a high dominance of vines. We further discuss the importance of landslides as reservoirs of biodiversity especially for Mediterranean orchids.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.119 | DOI Listing |
Glob Chang Biol
January 2025
Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
In recent decades, global change and local anthropogenic pressures have severely affected natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. Although disentangling the effects of these factors is difficult, they are reflected in changes in the functional composition of plant communities. We present a comprehensive, large-scale analysis of long-term changes in plant communities of various non-forest habitat types in the Czech Republic based on 1154 vegetation-plot time series from 53 resurvey studies comprising 3909 vegetation-plot records.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
Crop plant microbiomes are increasingly seen as important in plant nutrition and health, and a key to maintaining food productivity. Currently, little is known of the temporal changes that occur in the wheat rhizosphere microbiome as the plant develops, and how this varies among different sites. We used a pot-based mesocosm experiment with the same modern wheat cultivar grown in eight soils from across the North China Plain, a major wheat producing area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlob Chang Biol
January 2025
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Afforestation is increasingly recognized as a critical strategy to restore ecosystems and enhance biodiversity on post-agricultural landscapes. However, agricultural legacies, such as altered soil structure, nutrient imbalances, and depleted microbial diversity, can slow down forest establishment or cause ecosystems to deviate from expected successional trajectories. In this opinion paper, we explore the potential of soil inoculations as a tool to overcome these challenges by introducing beneficial microbial communities that can accelerate ecosystem recovery and forest development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInsect Sci
January 2025
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, Departamento de Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
Succession is one of the most extensively studied ecological phenomena, yet debates persist about the importance of dispersal and external factors in driving this process. We aimed to quantify the influence of these factors by investigating how wing-related traits evolve across succession of blowfly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) communities in South Brazil. Rat carrion was placed in both forest and grassland habitats, and the associated blowfly communities were documented throughout the decomposition process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
College of Eco-Environmental Engineering, The Institute of Karst Wetland Ecology, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang, 550025, China.
The study established experimental transects in undisturbed areas of the Caohai Nature Reserve in Weining, Guizhou Province. The study aims to examine complete successional transects in different landscapes: non-karst, karst, and vegetation restoration, using the spatiotemporal substitution method. It analyzes the distribution patterns of Total potassium (TK) and Avail potassium (AK) in the soil and employs a Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) to investigate the effects of geomorphology, soil aggregates, and their interactions on the changes in soil potassium(K) elements.
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