Shrub encroachment, a global phenomenon with management implications, is examined in two papers in the current issue of Applied Vegetation Science. Barbosa da Silva et al. show that encroachment simplifies herbaceous community, and Pittarello et al. illustrate how pastoral practices can restore encroached grasslands. While detrimental effects of shrub encroachment on grassland vegetation are of...

An investigation was carried out with nine green leafy vegetables (GLV’s) with their popular varieties most commonly grown in India to determine their biochemical composition. Among leafy vegetables ascorbic acid was found maximum in Chenopod cultivar Bathua Local (60.6 mg/100 g fw.) followed by Pusa Bathua -1 (23.0 mg/100g fw.) and spinach cultivar PS-1 (51 mg/100 g fw.). Significantly high le...

There have been debates on the driving factors of C4 plant expansion, such as PCO2 decline in the late Micocene and warmer climate and precipitation at large-scale modern ecosystems. These disputes are mainly due to the lack of direct evidence and extensive data analysis. Here we use mass flora data to explore the driving factors of C4 distribution and divergent patterns for different C4 taxa a...

Tree and shrub abundance has increased in many grasslands causing changes in ecosystem carbon and nitrogen pools that are related to patterns of woody plant distribution. However, with regard to spatial patterns of shrub proliferation, little is known about how they are influenced by grazing or the extent to which they are influenced by intraspecific interactions. We addressed these questions b...

This study tested the applicability of Island Biogeographic Theory to arthropod assemblages on ‘islands’ of creosotebush (Larrea tridentata) across a desert shrubland-grassland ecotone in central New Mexico, U.S.A. We assumed that herbivorous arthropod taxa that specialize on creosotebush view these shrubs as ‘islands’ of suitable habitat in a ‘sea’ of grassland, and used the Island Biogeograph...

Age and distribution of an evergreen clonal shrub in the Coweeta Basin: Rhododendron maximum L.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and extent of high-severity disturbance, with potential to alter vegetation community composition and structure in environments sensitive to tipping points between alternative states. Shrub species display a range of characteristics that promote resistance and resilience to disturbance, and which yield differential post-disturbance outcomes. We investi...