In late-successional environments, low in available nutrient such as the forest understory, herbaceous plant individuals depend strongly on their mycorrhizal associates for survival. We tested whether in temperate European forests arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) woody plants might facilitate the establishment of AM herbaceous plants in agreement with the mycorrhizal mediation hypothesis. We used a ...

Herbaceous plants are a key component of tropical forests. Previous work indicates that herbs contribute substantially to the species richness of tropical plant communities. However, the processes structuring tropical herb diversity, and how they contrast with woody communities, have been underexplored. Within the understory of a 50-ha forest dynamics plot in central Panama, we compared the div...

Klebs (12) reported in 1914 that the growth of beach, oak, ash, and hornbeam could be maintained even in winter if they were placed under continuous electric light. Since Klebs' report on the effect of day length on the growth of woody plants, there have been many studies pertaining to photoperiodism and dormancy in woody plants. They were amply reviewed by Samish (21), Wareing (24,26), and Nit...

Traditionally, methane (CH4) emission from terrestrial plants is thought to originate from belowground microbial metabolism under anaerobic conditions, with subsequent transport to the atmosphere through stems. However, a recent study reported aerobic CH4 emission from plants by an unrecognized process, a result that has since been questioned. We investigated CH4 emissions under aerobic conditi...

Roots of perennial plants have both persistent portion and fast-cycling units represented by different levels of branching. In woody species, the distal nonwoody branch orders as a unit are born and die together relatively rapidly (within 1-2 years). However, whether the fast-cycling units also exist in perennial herbs is unknown. We monitored root demography of seven perennial herbs over two y...

Forests are biologically diverse systems, representing some of the richest biological areas on Earth. They offer a variety of habitats for plants, animals and micro-organisms. However, forest biodiversity is increasingly threatened as a result of deforestation, fragmentation, climate change and other stressors. Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or on t...

Forests are biologically diverse systems, representing some of the richest biological areas on Earth. They offer a variety of habitats for plants, animals and micro-organisms. However, forest biodiversity is increasingly threatened as a result of deforestation, fragmentation, climate change and other stressors. Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or on t...