Search Results (21)

While olive trees are primarily wind-pollinated, biodiversity-friendly management of the groves can contribute to the conservation of pollinating insects in olive agroecosystems. Previous research demonstrated that semi-natural habitats, such as herbaceous linear elements and woody areas, support the community of pollinators in agroecosystems. Less is known about the contribution of low-input olive groves with a permanent ground cover on terraced landscapes. This study investigated the relationship between pollinator communities and semi-natural habitats, including spontaneous vegetation, in a traditional terraced Mediterranean olive grove agroecosystem. The research employed pan traps to monitor wild bees and observation walks to assess the butterfly community across three different habitat types in spring, summer, and autumn during two growing seasons. Floral resources in the habitats were assessed during each sampling time. Analysis showed that herbaceous habitats support a higher abundance of wild bees than woody areas, while olive groves do not differ significantly from either habitat type, despite exhibiting the highest floral abundance. This suggests that habitat structure, rather than floral availability alone, plays a role in maintaining the wild bee community. For butterflies, results demonstrate that the overall abundance does not differ between habitats, while the species composition does. The study emphasizes the importance of preserving diverse habitats, and in particular low-input olive groves, within agricultural landscapes to support a wide range of pollinator species. Full article

Spontaneous vegetation is an important component of urban biodiversity and an excellent agent for exploring the mutual feedback mechanism between urbanization and urban ecosystems. Rapid urbanization has had a significant impact on the composition, structure, and distribution patterns of urban spontaneous vegetation diversity. Studying the diversity distribution patterns and causes of urban plant communities is beneficial for understanding the formation and maintenance mechanisms of plant diversity in specific urban habitats. This study selected five cities in different climate subregions of Heilongjiang Province as research targets and conducted field research using uniform sampling and typical sampling methods. The composition, distribution pattern, and driving factors of spontaneous vegetation were analyzed. The results showed the following: (1) A total of 633 examples of spontaneous vegetation were recorded, belonging to 93 families and 341 genera, mainly consisting of herbaceous plants and native plants. (2) The diversity index and similarity index of spontaneous vegetation in gravel-type abandoned land habitats are higher than those in other habitat types, while the diversity index of spontaneous vegetation in trees and shrubs is lower, and there is no significant difference in regards to different habitats. (3) Urban population density is a key factor affecting the diversity of native plants, while woody plant coverage, patch area, and landscape trait index are key factors affecting non-native plants. (4) The results of canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the total explanatory power of environmental characteristic factors in regards to the distribution pattern of spontaneous vegetation was 7.5%. The closest distance between adjacent patches, the coverage of woody plants in patches, the distance from the city edge, the patch area, and the surface impermeability of the buffer zones were key factors affecting the distribution of dominant species in spontaneous vegetation communities. The research results will provide an important reference for the conservation of urban biodiversity and the construction of low-maintenance urban green space plant landscapes in Heilongjiang Province. Full article

The Pyrenean highlands hold the southernmost populations of some endemic and rare arvicoline species associated with grasslands. This area, as well as many other areas in the Mediterranean basin, has suffered from land abandonment due to socio-economic changes during the last decades. Those changes represented a reduction of the traditional livestock grazing by goats and sheep which naturally controlled the process of shrub encroachment. Today, maintenance of open habitats such as pasture grasslands needs to be performed by mechanical actions aimed at removing shrubs and woody vegetation. We document a case study on a plot sampled for five consecutive years (2017–2021) in which clear-cutting increased the cover of herbaceous vegetation by removing shrubs, potentially improving pasture quality. Also, changes in the small mammal community were detected, such as an increase in the species density and diversity (Shannon index) after clear-cutting, with the occurrence of typical grassland species (Microtus arvalis, M. lavernedii). Nonetheless, the effects were short-term (lasting two years), and then the community returned to the pre-treatment situation. Prior to intervention, the community was dominated by two generalist and widespread species (A. sylvaticus and C. russula), and the situation was similar two years after the intervention. Small increases in shrub cover produced relevant community changes by decreasing diversity and increasing dominance of the two most common species. These results suggested that shrub encroachment produced the banalization of small mammal communities dominated by generalist species. Full article

Earthworks, such as embankments or excavations, because of their transient nature, usually do not play any important role in biodiversity protection and promotion in urban areas. However, the results of this study show that pits playing the role of infiltration basins, which are filled with water only in some periods, can provide bees with food resources and nesting sites. They are particularly important in habitats with simplified vegetation structures, e.g., in monoculture habitats. The attractiveness of infiltration basins and ditches as habitats for bees was assessed by comparing species richness and abundance of bee communities found there with those of coniferous forests—pine monocultures (where the reservoirs were created) and clearings. The species richness and abundance of bees in clearings, infiltration ditches, and basins were higher than in forests. Simultaneously, we found that an increase in woody vegetation coverage and the level of shading in the daytime had a negative effect on bee abundance. In contrast, it was positively affected by increasing the mean radius of a belt of predominantly open habitats around sampling sites (herbaceous plants and seedlings of woody plants <60%). In this case, food resources were not a limiting factor of bee occurrence in the study area. Full article

Invasive alien species are considered the second greatest global threat to biodiversity. This study is aimed at determining the impacts of Parthenium hysterophorus on herbaceous and woody plant species diversity in the Ginir district, southeast Ethiopia. Data on vegetation were collected from the three study sites’ four land use types, with each land use type having invaded and non-invaded land units. A systematic random sampling method was used for establishing sampling plots. To examine the impacts of the invasive on native plant diversity, a total of 160 plots (120 plots of 1 m² on grazing lands, roadsides, and abandoned agricultural lands and 40 plots of 20 m² for sampling herbaceous and tree (shrub) species, respectively) were established. The number of plots was equally distributed in both invaded and adjacent non-invaded areas. Plant species from each plot were recorded and identified. In each plot, all the individuals of P. hysterophorus were counted, the heights of the five tallest individuals were measured, and the mean height was calculated. The percentage cover of P. hysterophorus was visually estimated. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. A total of 105 plant species (45 trees/shrubs and 60 herbaceous) belonging to 84 genera and 42 families were documented in the study area. The result showed a strong negative relationship between the density of P. hysterophorus and other plant species richness (r = −0.82, p = 0.013) and species abundance (r = −0.917, p = 0.001) per study site of the invaded community. Species richness in the non-invaded site was higher (105 species) than in the invaded area (63 species), demonstrating the negative impact of P. hysterophorus on local biodiversity. Furthermore, the number of plant families was 42 in the non-invaded area, in contrast to only 32 in the invaded areas, a 23.8% decline. Of the plant communities, similarity indices between non-invaded and invaded sites among different land use types were >50%. It was concluded that P. hysterophorus was one of the most dominant invasive alien species in the study area that reduced the species diversity of various plant species. Putting in place a strategy and effective planning for the control and management of this invasive alien species is strongly recommended. Full article

Cropland abandonment has been happening in different parts of the world and is being driven by socio-economic, ecological, edaphic, and environmental factors. Most of the research focusing on drivers of cropland abandonment, succession trajectories, and responses to active restoration initiatives has been conducted in the republic of Nepal and regions such as Europe and America. In South Africa, the impact of cropland abandonment on household livelihoods, changes in vegetation and soil properties, and soil seed bank statuses have been conducted mainly in the Eastern Cape Province. The drivers of cropland abandonment in South Africa are like those observed in other countries, except for a few, which are country-specific such as poor support of communal farmers compared to their counterparts in the highly mechanised commercial farming sector. There is also a shift from low input cropping in the distant fields to high input cultivation in homestead gardens. Research results elsewhere suggest a woody growth suppressive effect of grazing, particularly average grazing intensities, being crucial in suppressing woody proliferation while high grazing intensities are detrimental to herbaceous species’ richness and promote woody species’ encroachment. A combination of fire and grazing alters the natural succession trajectory by promoting fire-tolerant species and arresting woody species. Similar to other countries, cropland abandonment is associated with colonisation by alien invasive species which are favoured by cropping legacies, such as altered soil levels of pH, Nitrogen, and phosphorus. Furthermore, limited moisture in semi-arid areas promotes the encroachment of indigenous woody species. Secondary succession in abandoned croplands can be manipulated for the benefit of livestock production in communal areas by introducing management strategies that will discourage encroachment by both invasive and indigenous woody species which lowers the grazing capacity. Furthermore, active restorative practices, such as reseeding with indigenous mid succession perennial grasses and legumes, will improve forage quality in abandoned croplands. Our understanding of succession trajectories under various unique disturbance regimes experienced in South Africa, such as communal grazing of abandoned croplands, compared to situations in other parts of the world is limited. Furthermore, the influence of other factors such as fire, soil fertility, and moisture needs to be understood. Full article

Grazing management strategies tend to have different effects on rangeland plant production. Changes in grazing management can, therefore, affect the carbon stock potential of rangelands. Despite rangeland ecosystems being important global sinks for carbon, we know relatively little about the effect of traditional grazing management practices on their potential to store carbon. In this study, we evaluated the carbon stock and change rate of rangelands using three traditional grazing management practices in the semiarid pastoral ecosystem of eastern Ethiopia. By comparing data on vegetation and soil carbon stocks, we found that there was a strong significant difference (p < 0.001) between these different management practices. In particular, the establishment of enclosures was associated with an annual increase in carbon stocks of soil (3%) and woody (11.9%) and herbaceous (57.6%) biomass, when compared to communal open lands. Both enclosure and browsing management practices were found to have the highest levels of soil organic carbon stocks, differing only in terms of the amount of woody and herbaceous biomass. Thus, modest changes in traditional grazing management practices can play an important role in carbon storage and sequestration. Further research is required on a wider range of traditional pastoral management practices across space and time, as understanding these processes is key to combating global climate change. Full article

Landscape models are essential tools that link landscape patterns to ecological processes. Barrier island vegetation communities are strongly correlated with geomorphology, which makes elevation-based metrics suitable for developing a predictive habitat classification model in these systems. In this study, multinomial logistic regression is used to predict herbaceous, sparse, and woody habitat distributions on the North End of Assateague Island from slope, distance to shore, and elevation change, all of which are derived from digital elevation models (DEMs). Sparse habitats, which were generally found closest to shore in areas that are exposed to harsh conditions, had the highest predictive accuracy. Herbaceous and woody habitats occupied more protected inland settings and had lower predictive accuracies. A majority of woody cells were misclassified as herbaceous likely because of the similarity in the predictive parameter distributions. This relatively simple model is transparent and does not rely on subjective interpretations. This makes it an effective tool that can directly aid practitioners making coastal management decisions surrounding storm response planning and conservation management. The model results were used in a nutrient sequestration application to quantify carbon and nitrogen stored in barrier island vegetation. This represents an example of how the model results can be used to assign economic value of ecosystem services in a coastal system to justify different management and conservation initiatives. Full article

Establishing shelterbelts for field protection is one of the rediscovered agroforestry practices in Europe and Hungary. Several studies have focused on the effects of these plantations on agricultural production. Prior scholarship reveals that shelterbelts enhance the diversity of bird and insect communities but generally fail to consider herbaceous cover. Our study aimed to describe the herbaceous vegetation in shelterbelts of different origins, tree species composition, and land management. We investigated surveys in four agricultural landscapes of North West Hungary, where the intensity of the landscape transformation is different. The diversity and species composition of the herbaceous vegetation were analyzed, including plant sociology and forest affinity. Our results highlight the importance of landscape history in herbaceous flora. Shelterbelts planted on cultivated without an immediate connection to former woody vegetation soil are not appropriate for the appearance of forest-related herbaceous species, regardless of tree species composition or the extent of the shelterbelt. On the contrary, the remnants of former woody vegetation are refuges for those herbaceous species that are very slow at colonizing new plantations. These findings expose that protecting existing woody areas is an essential task of agricultural land management. Full article

The tidal freshwater zone near the estuarine head-of-tide is potentially sensitive to both sea-level rise and associated salinity increases as well as changing watershed inputs of freshwater and nutrients. We evaluated the vegetation response of tidal freshwater forested wetlands (TFFW) to changes in nontidal river versus estuarine controls along the longitudinal gradient of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers in the Mid-Atlantic USA. The gradient included nontidal freshwater floodplain (NT) and upper tidal (UT), lower tidal (LT), and stressed tidal forest transitioning to marsh (ST) TFFW habitats on both rivers. Plot-based vegetation sampling and dendrochronology were employed to examine: (1) downriver shifts in plant community composition and the structure of canopy trees, understory trees/saplings/shrubs and herbs, tree basal-area increment (BAI) and (2) interannual variability in BAI from 2015 dating back as far as 1969 in relation to long-term river and estuary monitoring data. With greater tidal influence downstream, tree species dominance shifted, live basal area generally decreased, long-term mean BAI of individual trees decreased, woody stem mortality increased, and live herbaceous vegetative cover and richness increased. Acer rubrum, Fagus grandifolia, Ilex opaca, and Fraxinus pennsylvanica dominated NT and UT sites, with F. pennsylvanica and Nyssa sylvatica increasingly dominating at more downstream tidal sites. Annual tree BAI growth was positively affected by nontidal river flow at NT and UT sites which were closer to the head-of-tide, positively influenced by small salinity increases at LT and ST sites further downstream, and positively influenced by estuarine water level throughout the gradient; nutrient influence was site specific with both positive and negative influences. The counterintuitive finding of salinity increasing tree growth at sites with low BAI is likely due to either competitive growth release from neighboring tree death or enhanced soil nutrient availability that may temporarily mitigate the negative effects of low-level salinization and sea-level increases on living TFFW canopy trees, even as overall plant community conversion to tidal marsh progresses. Full article

Plant and microbiome interactions are necessary for plant nutrient acquisition. However, relatively little is known about the responses of roots, bulk, and rhizosphere soil microbial communities in different artificial vegetation types (woody and herbaceous) in riparian areas of massive dams and reservoirs. Therefore, this study aims to assess such responses at elevations of 165–170 m a.s.l. in the riparian zones of the Three Gorges Dam Reservoir, China. The samples were collected containing the rhizosphere soil, bulk soil, and roots of herbaceous and woody vegetation at different emergence stages in 2018. Then, all the samples were analyzed to quantify the soil properties, bacterial community characteristics, and their interaction in the early and late emergence phases. In different periods, the weight of dominant soil bacteria, including Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Cyanobacteria, was higher, and their composition was different in the rhizosphere, bulk soil, and endophytes. Moreover, the soil co-occurrence networks indicated that the weight of soil physical properties was higher than chemical properties in the early emergence stage. In contrast, the weight of chemical properties was relatively higher in the late emergence stage. Furthermore, the richness and diversity of the bacterial community were mainly affected by soil organic matter. This study suggests that these herbaceous and woody vegetation are suitable for planting in reservoir areas affected by hydrology and human disturbance in light of soil nutrients and soil microbial communities, respectively. Additionally, these results provide valuable information to inoculate the soil with key microbiota members by applying fertilizers, potentially improving plant health and soil production. Full article

Measuring wildland fuels is at the core of fire science, but many established field methods are not useful for ecosystems characterized by complex surface vegetation. A recently developed sub-meter 3D method applied to southeastern U.S. longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) communities captures critical heterogeneity, but similar to any destructive sampling measurement, it relies on separate plots for calculating loading and consumption. In this study, we investigated how bulk density differed by 10-cm height increments among three dominant fuel types, tested predictions of consumption based on fuel type, height, and volume, and compared this with other field measurements. The bulk density changed with height for the herbaceous and woody litter fuels (p < 0.001), but live woody litter was consistent across heights (p > 0.05). Our models predicted mass well based on volume and height for herbaceous (RSE = 0.00911) and woody litter (RSE = 0.0123), while only volume was used for live woody (R² = 0.44). These were used to estimate consumption based on our volume-mass predictions, linked pre- and post-fire plots by fuel type, and showed similar results for herbaceous and woody litter when compared to paired plots. This study illustrates an important non-destructive alternative to calculating mass and estimating fuel consumption across vertical volume distributions at fine scales. Full article

The formation of synanthropic flora of any territory occurs in two ways: the penetration of anthropophytes (anthropophytization, adventization) and the transition of native plant species from natural phytocenoses to anthropogenic ecotopes (apophytization). The article highlights the results of the study of synanthropic flora and vegetation of recreational zones of Kharkiv (abandoned parks, recreational areas, and green areas) for 2018–2020. The classification of synanthropic vegetation was performed on the basis of processing geobotanical releves in programs Turboveg 2.91 and Juice 7.0.127. Ecological amplitudes of syntaxons were determined by ecological scales of Ya.P. Didukh. The study of invasive plant species was carried out according to the classification of D. Richardson et al. As part of the synanthropic vegetation of recreational zones of Kharkiv, we have found 15 invasive plant species. Most of them, according to the degree of invasive potential, belong to the group with high invasive capacity (11 species). Among them there are dominate species of the family Asteraceae (eight). The results of biomorphic analysis show that there are dominate therophytes (8 species), ecological analysis shows the domination of mesophytes (14 species) and geographical analysis shows the domination of species of North American origin (13). The structural analysis of the alien fraction of flora shows the dominance of kenophytes (15 species), xenophytes (6 species), and ergasiophytes (5 species), and epecophytes (7 species). Woody phytocenoses of the class Robinietea are sensitive to soil acidity and carbonate content in soil, thermal, and cryo-climate. In their composition, we have found eight invasive species. In plant communities of herbaceous annual vegetation of classes Bidentetea and Galio-Urticetea, which are adapted to the variability of damping and nitrification of the edaphotope, nine invasive plant species are growing. Ruderal phytocenoses of classes Artemisietea vulgaris and Stellarietea mediae are formed with the participation of 10 invasive plant species. These communities are sensitive to the variability of damping, soil acidity, total salt regime, nitrogen content in soil, thermal climate, humidity, and the continentality of the climate. Full article

Riparian habitats are important ecotones connecting aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, but are often highly degraded by human activities. Riparian buffers might help support impacted riparian communities, and improve trophic connectivity. We sampled spider communities from riparian habitats in an agricultural catchment, and analyzed their polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content to quantify trophic connectivity. Specific PUFAs are exclusively produced by stream algae, and thus are used to track uptake of aquatic resources by terrestrial consumers. Riparian spiders were collected from 10 site pairs situated along agricultural streams, and from five forest sites (25 sites total). Each agricultural site pair comprised an unshaded site with predominantly herbaceous vegetation cover, and a second with a woody riparian buffer. Spider communities differed between site types, with web-building spiders dominating woody buffered sites and free-living spiders associated with more open habitats. PUFA concentrations were greatest overall in free-living spiders, but there was also evidence for increased PUFA uptake by some spider groups when a woody riparian buffer was present. Our results reveal the different roles of open and wooded riparian habitats in supporting terrestrial consumers and aquatic-terrestrial connectivity, and highlight the value of incorporating patches of woody vegetation within riparian networks in highly modified landscapes. Full article

Karst rocky desertification (KRD) is one of the biggest challenges in the karst ecological restoration of Southwest China, and a thorough understanding of the plant community characteristics in various karren habitats provides a basis for mitigating KRD and restoring the degraded ecosystem. To improve our knowledge of the detailed characteristics and impact mechanisms of karren habitats on the species distribution and species diversity patterns of woody and herbaceous plants to benefit sustainable management and planting design for revegetation establishment in the karst region, a field investigation was carried out in the natural restoration vegetation of Shilin Geopark. The results indicated that karren habitats apparently determine the species diversity and composition. At the arbor layer, the habitat with the highest α diversity was solution corridor (SC), and at the shrub layer, grikes (GR) were the karren habitats with the most diverse communities. At the herb layer, solution rock debris (SRD) showed the highest richness of herbaceous species. The karren habitat features and topographic factors significantly influence plant α diversity and distribution. Soil area (SA) and canopy density (CD) were the dominant factors influencing plant diversity at the arbor, shrub and herb layers, soil thickness (ST) was significantly effective at the arbor and herb layers. Karren habitat height (KHH), litter thickness (LT), and slope gradient (SG) were significantly influential at the herb layer. The impacts of the karren habitat width (KHW), slope aspect (SAS), and SG on woody species distribution were significant. Knowledge obtained from this study will be helpful guidance for future sustainable restored vegetation design and management with high biodiversity and regional characteristics in the karst area of Southwest China and other fragile karst ecosystems in the world. Full article