Sexual differences were investigated to determine the significance of flower bud abortion in the dioecious shrub Aucuba japonica Thunb. The mean number of flowers per inflorescence and the mean number of flowering inflorescences (as opposed to aborted inflorescences) per individual were greater in males than in females in 1997 and 1998. Reproductive investment by males was 0.4-times (1997) and ...

The Heihe River is the second largest inland basin in China; runoff in the upper reach greatly affects the socio-economic development in the downstream area. The relationship between spatial vegetation patterns and catchment hydrological processes in the upper Heihe basin has remained unclear to date. In this study, a distributed ecohydrological model is developed to simulate the hydrological p...

The floristic variations of shrub and tree components were studied in two sites of Semideciduous Forest, initial forest and mature forest, located in the Mata do Paraíso Forest Reserve, in Viçosa, State of Minas Gerais, Southeastern Brazil, in order to analyze the floristic similarity and the correlations between environmental variables and the distribution of tree species in these forests. Ind...

2 Abstract Vegetation type and cover play an important role in the operation of geomorphological processes by controlling runoff and sediment dynamics. In drylands, land degradation is particularly sensitive to these eco-geomorphic interactions. Whilst many geomorphological studies of land degradation focus on the change in hydrological response as a function of vegetation cover, few have inves...

Many arid grassland communities are changing from grass dominance to shrub dominance, but the mechanisms involved in this conversion process are not completely understood. Aeolian processes likely contribute to this conversion from grassland to shrubland. The purpose of this research is to provide information regarding how vegetation changes occur in an arid grassland as a result of aeolian sed...

In recent decades, pastoral abandonment has produced profound ecological changes in the Alps. In particular, the reduction in grazing has led to extensive shrub encroachment of semi-natural grasslands, which may represent a threat to open habitat biodiversity. To reverse shrub encroachment, we assessed short-term effects of two different pastoral practices on vegetation and dung beetles (Coleop...

Wildlife management on a landscape scale is often complex, particularly where different land use practices occur in the same region. This so for of overabundant grazing species (both domestic and native) modified landscape, anthropogenic activities climatic drivers can influence their distribution abundance beyond sustainable levels. In Australia’s arid rangelands, macropods benefit from pastor...

Question: How does habitat degradation affect recruitment limitation and its components (seed limitation versus establishment limitation) of woody plant communities in a Mediterranean landscape? Location: 1600-1900m a.s.l. in the Sierra Nevada National Park, southern Spain. The landscape is a mosaic composed of native forest and two degraded landscape units: reforestation stands and shrubland. ...

Arctic ecosystems are characterized by a broad range of plant functional types that are highly heterogeneous at small (~1-2 m) spatial scales. Climatic changes can impact vegetation distribution directly, and also indirectly via impacts on disturbance regimes. Consequent changes in vegetation structure and function have implications for surface energy dynamics that may alter permafrost thermal ...