Understorey vegetation comprises a major portion of plant diversity and contributes greatly
to nutrient cycling and energy flow. This review examines the mechanisms involved in the …

The silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) is among the most valuable conifers in Europe for ecological
and economic reasons. Throughout the course of history, primarily in the 20th century, its …

Abstract Structure–function relationships are central to many ecological paradigms. Chief
among these is the linkage of net primary production (NPP) with species diversity and …

Tree species diversity in forest ecosystems could reduce their vulnerability to extreme
droughts through improved microclimate and below‐ground water source partitioning driven …

Light is a key resource for plant growth and is of particular importance in forest ecosystems,
because of the strong vertical structure leading to successive light interception from canopy …

Understanding the relationship between biodiversity and productivity can be advanced by
improving metrics used to quantify biodiversity. Structural diversity, that is, variation of size …

Understory plants are one of the important components of forest biological diversity and play
important roles in forest function. Although convincing evidence exists that mixed-species …

Assessing how species productivity in mixtures is influenced by species shade tolerance
(ST) and phylogeny would be helpful to improve our general understanding of the …

Understory vegetation accounts for most of the plant diversity, particularly in plantation
forests, and contributes significantly to energy flows and nutrient cycling. However, we lack a …

Biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning in forests by, for example, enhancing growth and
altering the forest structure towards greater complexity with cascading effects on other …