The western Ordos Plateau is a key area of shrub diversity and a National Nature Reserve of endangered shrub species in north-west China. Desert expansion is becoming the most important threat to these endangered species. However, little is known about the effects of sand burial on the dynamics of the shrub community. This study aims to investigate how the shrubs as a community and as different...

Deforestation and habitat fragmentation that arise largely due to the conversion of forests to other agricultural land-use types and over-utilization of forest resources to satisfy the food and energy requirements of the increasing population are major environmental concerns in northern Ethiopia. Understanding plant species diversity and spatial distribution along environmental gradients is cru...

Deforestation and habitat fragmentation that arise largely due to the conversion of forests to other agricultural land-use types and over-utilization of forest resources to satisfy the food and energy requirements of the increasing population are major environmental concerns in northern Ethiopia. Understanding plant species diversity and spatial distribution along environmental gradients is cru...

Grassland and shrub-steppe ecosystems are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic activities. Loss of native habitats may negatively impact important small mammal prey species. Little information, however, is available on the impact of habitat variability on density of small mammal prey species at broad spatial scales. We examined the relationship between small mammal density and remotely-sens...

We characterized the structure and composition of unmanaged riparian forests in three river basins in Oregon’s coastal mountains. Our objective was to evaluate stand attributes at three spatial scales: streamside (site), drainage network (stream order), and basin (subregion). Data on basal area, species composition, snag density, canopy cover, and tree regeneration were collected along transect...

The loss or decline of vertebrate frugivores can limit the regeneration of plants that depend on them. However, empirical evidence is showing that this is still very scarce, as functionally equivalent species may contribute to maintain the mutualistic interaction. Here, we investigated the long-term consequences of the extinction of frugivorous lizards on the population persistence of a Mediter...

Wildland fires and anthropogenic disturbances can cause changes in vegetation species composition structure boreal peatlands. These could potentially alter regeneration trajectories following severe fire or through cumulative impacts of climate-mediated drying, fire, and/or disturbance. We used lidar-derived point cloud metrics, site-specific locational attributes to assess post-disturbance pea...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY California chaparral shrub species have different life history types: Nonsprouters (NS) are killed by fire and persist through a fire-stimulated seed bank; facultative sprouters (FS) reestablish by a combination of vegetative sprouting and seeding; and obligate sprouters (OS) reestablish exclusively by sprouting. Nonsprouters and FS establish seedlings in open-canopy postfi...

Both invasive species and deer herbivory are recognized as locally important drivers of plant community dynamics. However, few studies have examined whether their effects are synergistic, additive, or antagonistic. At three study areas in southern New England, we examined the interaction of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) herbivory and three levels of invasive shrub contro...